Mumbai blasts: Bullet 313 triggered 13/7

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Two days after three explosions rocked Mumbai, Central Intelligence agencies, which have been examining various theories, suspect that a new module of the Indian Mujahideen called Bullet 313 may have carried out attack.

However, Home Secretary R.K. Singh on Thursday said no particular group has been zeroed in on as yet.

Though the Union home ministry has said that there were no specific intelligence inputs warning of the blasts, officials from Central agencies including the RAW and IB say they had received inputs earlier about formation of a new module of the terror outfit.

IB sources said they had, last year, received information about the formation of Bullet 313, and they also had the names of its operatives. “It is likely that this outfit may have carried out Wednesday’s blast,” the source said.

He added that the agency had also identified three alleged cadres handling Bullet 313, and the IB had also prepared a detailed report about it. Meanwhile, two international calls — one from United Arab Emirates and one from Saudi Arabia — are under the IB’s scanner. These calls were intercepted by the Central agencies on the night of blasts.

“Electronic surveillance is on,” a government functionary said in New Delhi, the Union Home Secretary said that the two-wheeler in which the explosive material was planted at one of the three bomb sites has been identified.

Mr. Singh also said several people were being questioned based on their “previous known linkages”.

“Suspicious people are being verified. Various people with previous known linkages are being questioned based on our previous data bases. This investigation is on,” he said.

Meanwhile, according to the IB report, three youths — Sameer, Shakeel and Nizamuddin — were given the charge of handling the newly-created module of the Indian Mujahideen.

“Sameer, believed to be around 28 to 30 years old, is a resident of Andheri,” the source said.

Explaining Sameer’s modus operandi, the source said that he generally avoids going to mosques and is well educated with knowledge of science and English.

Further, the IB report states that Shakeel, who is around 35 to 40 years, was a pilot. Shakeel got his religious training at “madarsas” in Delhi and Indonesia.

Till last year, Shakeel apparently handled circulation and printing of religious books. Nizamuddin, apparently a “hakim”, was earlier living in Santa Cruz, but later shifted to Bhiwandi or Mumbra.