After the Dilsukhnagar blasts in Hyderabad, the Union home ministry had sent an alert to Bihar keeping alive the threat from Laskhar-e-Tayyaba backed Rohingiyas Muslim extremists who were out to take revenge for the sectarian violence in Burma.
Intelligence sources said the group had also made plans to target Delhi and Mumbai. The arrested IM operatives told interrogators that the IM leadership, inspired by the Al Qaeda, was trying to form a team of suicide attackers. But after the killing of Atif Ameen in the Batla House encounter in 2008, the plan could not materialise. The audacious plans gained momentum once again when the IM duo was tasked to recce the Buddhist shrine for a possible fidayeen strike.
Hours after the blast, the security brass in New Delhi went into a huddle trying to piece together information about possible links to previous unsolved cases, including Dilsukh Nagar and Pune serial blasts last year. The needle of suspicion also pointed towards Yasin Bhatkal, a key IM operative who is believed to have recruited local youth from Dharbhanga, Madhubani and other areas. What is also drawing the attention of the security brass is 26/11 mastermind and LeT patron Hafiz Saeed’s verbal assaults on India’s alleged support to Burma even as atrocities against the Mulsim community continued there.
“We are not ruling out anything. All angles will be probed,” a top security official said.
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Kolkata: IM man held With Explosives
RAJIB CHOWDHURI
Kolkata, July 7
Hours before the serial blasts at Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya of Bihar, an alleged linkman of the banned terror outfit, Indian Mujahideen (IM), was arrested with explosives by the special task force of the Kolkata police near the Writers’ Buildings on Saturday night.
The accused, Anwar Hussain Mullik, 42, is a resident of Ranabandh in Chhapra of Nadia. At around 9.45 pm, the STF’s anti-terrorism cell detectives caught him from the BBD Bag bus stand opposite the Writers’ in Dalhousie area following a tip-off.