The Central intelligence agencies have indicated that the Hyderabad twin blasts were aimed at escalating the simmering communal tension at the behest of Pakistan-based outfits. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is expected to take over the Hyderabad blast probe shortly, is probing the cross-border linkage to last week’s twin bombings in Hyderabad as it suspects that the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba-Indian Mujahideen network has been used to carry out a “proxy war’’ to create communal unrest.
The southern city, which has been witnessing sporadic incidents of communal flare ups over the last 12 months, has been on the radar of the Laskhar-e-Tayyaba which has links with the Pakistan’s ISI. Intelligence sources disclosed that the LeT has been running a concerted campaign directing its cadres to provoke communal tension in Hyderabad.
Sources said top IM leader Yasin Bhatkal, who was identified in the CCTV footage after the Pune German Bakery blasts, could be behind the Hyderabad blast conspiracy as well. Under the instructions of IM top brass Riyaz Bhatkal in Pakistan, two arrested IM operatives — Syed Maqbool and Imran — had carried out recce of the targeted area-Dilsukh Nagar last year and have confessed to have shared the details with their IM bosses.
Yasin who has been liasioning with three absconding IM operatives — Asasdullah Akhtar alias haddi, Waqas alias Ahmed and Bada Sajid — is under the scanner of NIA and Hyderabad police along with the trio who are already wanted in the 2011 Mumbai bombings. Preliminary foresnic report with the MHA indicates that ammonium nitrate and rusted sharpnels were used to carry out the twin bombings, establishing the IM signature to the strike.
According to sources, the video footage obtained from the site of the blasts has showed three persons moving suspiciously near bicycles strapped with explosives, just minutes before the explosions. Help of experts is being taken to enhance the footage for clarity.
Union home ministry sources said that Hyderabad became a natural target of this campaign of communal escalation as the city witnessed repeated incidents of flareups recently. In October 2012, communal clashes erupted after unidentified people set ablaze religiously significant flags.
Sources said after Id-ul Azha last year some youths of a particular community were also attacked in separate incidents allegedly to take revenge for cow slaughter.