Six Islamic Terrorists Arrested Over Pune, Delhi, Bangalore Attacks

Six men arrested by Delhi police over India attacks
1 December 2011

Police in the Indian capital Delhi say they have arrested six people in connection with a series of countrywide attacks last year.

The men belong to the Indian Mujahideen group which has been blamed for dozens of bomb attacks throughout India, the police said.

A Pakistani man, suspected to have links to the outlawed radical group Jaish-e-Muhammad, is also being held.

Police say they are seeking another man in connection with the blasts.

The six men, who were detained in Delhi, Bihar and Chennai, are “all members of the Indian Mujahideen terror modules”, a statement issued by the Delhi police said.

The men were suspected of involvement in the attacks last year on a bakery in the western city of Pune, a stadium in the southern city of Bangalore and a shooting incident near Delhi’s Jama Masjid mosque, the statement said.

Rifles, cartridges, pistols and explosive material had been seized, it added.

The blast at the German bakery in Pune in February 2010 killed 17 people and injured 56. It was the first major bombing in India after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

At least eight people were injured when a bomb exploded outside a cricket stadium in Bangalore in April last year.

And two foreign tourists were injured after gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a bus near the Jama Masjid mosque, a popular tourist site, in Delhi last September.

The United States has put the Indian Mujahideen on its list of foreign terrorist organisations, saying that the group was responsible for dozens of bomb attacks throughout India in the last six years.

Arrested SIMI and Indian Mujahideen Islamic Terrorists Planned to Attack Ayodhya Case Judges

Bhopal, June 9, 2011

Arrested SIMI men planned to attack Ayodhya case judges

Mahim Pratap Singh

Terrorists arrested earlier this week by the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad planned to attack judges who delivered the Ayodhya case verdict.

According to police sources, five terrorists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India and three others belonging to the Indian Mujahideen, who were arrested on Sunday, confessed to researching the disputed land at Ayodhya and surrounding areas following the September 30, 2010 judgment.

“The terrorists told us that they had been researching the area around the site and were planning to target the three judges who delivered the judgment,” ATS Inspector-General Vipin Maheshwari told The Hindu.

Three of the arrested terrorists are reportedly connected to the July 2008 Ahmedabad blasts.

Sources in the Intelligence Bureau said the terrorists also confessed to having robbed five banks in the State to raise funds for organisational and propaganda activities and other operations.

Islamic terrorists strike Varanasi

Terror strikes Varanasi

HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times

Varanasi, December 08, 2010

Terror struck the holy town of Varanasi on Tuesday — a day after the 18th anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition — as an explosive device killed a one-year-old child and injured at least 20 people. The blast

related stories
IM claims blast, says it’s retaliation for Babri verdict
Founder of banned IM main suspect
Big bang, smoke and cries for help
took place at 6.35 pm at the old Dashashwamedh ghat on the banks of the Ganga where one of the main tourist attractions, Ganga Aarati, was being performed.

related stories
IM claims blast, says it’s retaliation for Babri verdict
Founder of banned IM main suspect
Big bang, smoke and cries for help

Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the blast in an e-mail traced to Malad in Mumbai. It said, “Indian Mujahideen attribute (sic) this attack to the 6th of December that will haunt your nation of world’s ‘Greatest DemoNcracy (sic)’.” The mail also warned of more attacks.

The five-page IM email referred to the Allahabad High Court judgment on Ayodhya and the “manhandling and heckling of the Kashmiri leadership in Indian cities”.

Condemning the blast, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said it was an attempt to “weaken” India’s resolve to fight the “evil forces of terrorism” and that the “terrorists will not succeed”.

The blast took place near the railing of an elevated platform. The explosion destroyed the railings and the stone stairs of the ghat and bloodstains could be seen all around the place.

“It was a powerful blast that shook buildings up to 500 metres away. We saw dismembered limbs being thrown about,” said Kishori Raman Dubey who organises the show at the ghat.

The PM asked the union home ministry for a report on the incident. In fact, the home ministry had recently alerted the UP government against possible terrorist attacks around the time of the Babri demolition day.

Varanasi police chief RP Singh confirmed the death of one-year-old Swastika Sharma and injury to more than 20 people.

A local trader, Kuldip Beri, told HT that no policeman was present at the spot when the blast took place and there was total chaos for at least 15 minutes before the cops arrived.

Ahead of Commonwealth Games, suspected Islamic terrorists shoot and injure two tourists near Jama Masjid in Delhi

Gunmen fire at tourist bus in Delhi, wounding 2

By NIRMALA GEORGE, Associated Press Writer Nirmala

Sun Sep 19

NEW DELHI – Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire Sunday at a group of tourists near one of India’s biggest mosques, injuring two Taiwanese and raising concerns about security less than two weeks before an international sporting event in the Indian capital.

The gunmen shot randomly at the tourists as they were about to board a bus parked near the Jama Masjid mosque, police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said. The 17th century mosque is a popular tourist destination in the heart of the city.

Police launched a massive search for the gunmen and issued a security alert across the Indian capital.

Hours later, the BBC’s Hindi language service said it received an e-mail purportedly from the Indian Mujahideen, an Islamic militant group, threatening to attack the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

“We know preparations for the games are at their peak. Beware, we too are preparing in full swing for a great surprise,” the e-mail said.

Police cautioned that the e-mail and Sunday’s attack could be unrelated.

“We are investigating the attack on the tourists from all angles,” said Karnail Singh, a joint commissioner of police.

Officials quickly tried to reassure athletes and the public that security in the city was at an unprecedented high. Thousands of athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations are to compete in the games, which are held every four years.

New Delhi’s top elected official, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, appealed for calm, declaring the city was safe to host the Oct. 3-14 games in which 71 teams are to take part.

“Please do not panic. An incident like this is something worrying, but nothing to panic about,” Dikshit told reporters.

The secretary-general of the games organizing committee, Lalit Bhanot, said the shooting would have “no impact” on the event.

Indian authorities “have made elaborate arrangements to provide the Commonwealth Games athletes and officials a safe and secure environment,” Bhanot said in a statement.

Federal Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram visited the two injured Taiwanese men in the hospital after one was operated on for a stomach wound.

They were in stable condition, said Jaspal Singh, a top police official.

The area around the mosque was cordoned off after the attack and police scoured the densely populated alleys around it. Cars and other vehicles were checked at barriers erected on major roads in the city.

Police said witnesses could give few details about the assailants.

“Eyewitnesses have told us the men were wearing raincoats and helmets. They fired around seven rounds before they sped away,” Karnail Singh said.

The Indian Mujahideen, which has been linked to the banned Pakistan-based Islamist rebel group Lashkar-e-Taiba, was outlawed in June after it was suspected of involvement in an attack on a popular bakery in western India in which 10 people died.

Islamic terrorists carried out IPL blasts at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru

The Indian Mujahideen operative who planned IPL blasts
August 19, 2010

The blasts at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, which created panic among the spectators who had gathered there to watch a game of the Indian Premier League on April 17 this year, were planned and carried out by the Indian Mujahideen, according to the city police.

According to the Bengaluru police, Indian Mujahideen operative Salman alias Chotu was the mastermind behind the blasts. Incidentally, Salman was arrested by the police a month before the blasts.

Bengaluru police officials told rediff.com that investigations into the case point to Salman’s involvement.

Salman, a wanted accused in many cases, is one of the main operatives of the terror outfit, say sources in the Intelligence Bureau.

According to IB sources, Salman was trained in Pakistan and he played a role in the serial blasts in Jaipur on May 13, 2008. He planted the bomb at the Manak Chowk area, say sources. The blasts had claimed 60 lives in Pink City.

Salman was later roped in for bigger terror operations and he played a role in the Delhi serial blasts as well. He was arrested by the Delhi police in March this year.

He will be initially interrogated by the Rajasthan police before the Bengaluru police can get access to him.

Vicky Nanjappa

Indian Muslim Terror Group on Recruitment Spree

Terror group Indian Mujahideen on recruitment spree

CNN-IBN
Mar 08, 2010 

New Delhi: The Indian Mujahideen (IM) are trying to re-group and recruit new cadre that’s what has emerged from the interrogation of 21-year-old Salman, an alleged IM operative. A Delhi court has sent Salman to eight days of police custody.

The Indian Mujahideen has been recruiting new cadres to make up for the loss of several of its top members, who were arrested following blasts in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi between 2007 and 2008.

The revelations have been made by the 21-yr-old, Salman, who has allegedly been involved in almost all activities of the Indian Mujahideen since 2005.

Salman alias Chothu has also told interrogators that the Indian Mujahideen is trying desperately to re-group and cause further strikes across the country.

Following the Delhi serial blast Salman spent a lot of time in eastern Uttar Pradesh and then fled to Nepal, where he got himself a Nepalese passport under a fictitious identity.

“Is passport ke dwara woha Pakistan gaya aur kayi dusre desh gaya jinke baarein mein abhi bolna sahi nahi hai (with the help of this passport he went to many other countries. But can’t say it now),” said Brij Lal.

Salman went to different places in UAE and Pakistan including Sharjah, Dubai, Karachi and Lahore.

There he met several top Indian Mujahideen operatives including Iqbal and Riyaz Bhatkal and even underwent training in arms and explosives.

Salman was privy to a lot of information about the future plans of the group, police have recovered a UAE ID and a Nepalese passport from him. He was also using an international number which will now be analysed by the police.

Report on Modules of SIMI/IM Islamic Terrorists in 8 Indian States

Indian Mujahideen strikes deep

Mon, Feb 22 06:08 AM

Uttar Pradesh

SIMI was formed in Aligarh in 1977 and had thousands of members and offices in almost every district of the state before it was banned by the Centre in 2002. The group came under the radar of intelligence agencies after 1998 and the then SIMI president Dr Shahid Badr Falahi was arrested in Bahraich for an alleged provocative speech days after 9/11.

More than 1,200 SIMI members were arrested from the state after the ban. Police say they have evidence to prove that the SIMI was involved in the February 2005 blasts in Varanasi, the Shramjeevi Express blast in July 2005, the Varanasi blasts of March 2006, and serial blasts in courts in Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi in 2007.

Among the prominent members arrested in the state are Abu Bashar of Azamgarh, who is said to have first revealed the existence of IM and its role in blasts across the country, and Shahbaz Ahmed of Lucknow, allegedly involved in the Jaipur blasts. State anti-terrorism squad officials say they are still looking for seven key IM operatives belonging to Azamgarh: Dr Shahnawaz, Ariz Khan alias Junaid, Mohammad Sajid alias Bada Sajid, Mirza Shadab Beig, Mohammad Khalid, Asadullah Akhtar and Salman.

Maharashtra

Mumbai and Pune were the main IM hubs with an extensive network of operatives capable of providing resources for an attack anywhere in the country. The arrests made in 2008 in these two cities laid bare the backbone of the IM. The outfit grew out of the seamy underbelly of Mumbai’s gangland, with Riyaz Bhatkal dabbling in underworld activities before becoming involved in SIMI operations in the Muslim dominated areas of Kurla and Cheetah Camp.

In fact, Riyaz was a suspect in the bomb blasts in Mumbai in 2002 and 2003 and a manhunt was launched for him then. In Pune, IM had set up base in the Kondhwa area, with a control room in an apartment in an upmarket housing society. Mumbai police arrested 21 IM members, including IT engineer Mansoor Peerbhoy, and charged them of forming an organised crime syndicate for terrorist activities and hacking into WiFi accounts to send e-mails claiming credit for bomb blasts.

Among the key missing operatives from the state are Abdus Subhan Qureshi alias Tauqeer, the face of IM in 2008, Amin alias Raja Ayub Shaikh, Abdul Shakoor Khan alias Irfan, Abu Rashid.

Gujarat

The state has been more a target for SIMI-IM than a hub for the groups, with most men blamed for the 2008 blasts belonging to other states. The blasts were allegedly carried out under the direction, guidance and assistance of Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islam (HuJI) operative Amir Raza Khan from Pakistan.

Gujarat Police took custody of senior SIMI leaders Safdar Nagori and Abdul Sibli from Madhya Pradesh and others were taken into custody from jails elsewhere. So far, 57 people have been arrested for the blasts and 38 named in the conspiracy are at large.

Madhya Pradesh

The strong SIMI network in the state helped IM recruit and train members the way it did in UP. In 2008, 13 SIMI leaders, including the outfit’s general secretary Safdar Nagori and his brother Kamruddin, were arrested following raids in Indore. The police described the arrested as active members from Kerala, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

The arrested also included SIMI’s Karnataka unit chief Hafiz Hussain and Shibli, the mainstay of the group in Kerala. In April 2008, the police neutralised a SIMI training camp in Choral, a popular holiday spot, 35 km from Bhopal. Qayamuddin Kapadia, suspected to be one of the main conspirators of the Ahmedabad serial blasts, was arrested from the state in November 2008. Last April, IM operative Saif-ur-Rahman was arrested from a train in Jabalpur. The Azamgarh resident is accused of planting bombs in Jaipur and Ahmedabad.

Kerala

Although Kerala has not been an IM target, the state is home to some of its key members and several places hosted secret indoctrination, arms training camps after 2005. According to Gujarat police, 37 hardcore SIMI activists had participated in a bomb-making and tough-terrain training camp in Vagamon in 2007. Aluva, Paravoor and Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district, Erattupetta in Kottayam and old Kannur city are known to have been used by the IM while half-a-dozen men arrested for being linked to Lashkar are from Kannur city.

Prominent among the key SIMI-IM operators from Kerala are C A M Basheer, an aeronautical engineer from Aluva and the former national president of SIMI. Other SIMI leaders from Kerala are Peediyekkal Shibili, his brother Shaduli and Ansar Maulavi. They were arrested in Indore in March 2008. Sarfraz Nawaz, secretary at the SIMI Delhi office, was picked up by the RAW from Muscat last year.

The police had found that Nawaz financed the Bangalore blasts and knew Basheer. Sainudheen alias Satharbhai of Malappuram designed the explosives for Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Surat in 2008. Tadiyantavide Nazeer, who had played a key role in recruiting youth for training at Lashkar camps, was nabbed last November and is suspected to have been with the IM in 2008. Key players absconding from Kerala are C A M Basheer, Ayoob, Ummer Farook and Subaih.

Karnataka

While the Bhatkal brothers, Riyaz Shahbandari and Iqbal Shahbandari, used their coastal hometown of Bhatkal as an IM hub, the activities of the group elsewhere in the state were restricted largely to the northern districts of Bijapur, Bidar and Gulbarga. A spurt in SIMI activities occurred in 2007 when various senior members from Karnataka and Kerala tried to reorganise a hardline version.

While the core group had 25-30 members, the effort to revive the SIMI in 2007 saw training camps being held on the Karnataka-Goa border, in the Hubli-Dharwad region and at Ernakulam in Kerala through 2006-07. Much of the network that emerged during this period was busted by Karnataka police through 2008. The IM members blamed for the Hyderabad and Ahmedabad blasts were trained in a remote village in Chikamagalur district.

Although the IM is not held directly responsible for the July 2008 blasts in Bangalore, Riyaz Bhatkal and the perpetrators of the attack a small group of men from Kerala led by former Kerala SIMI activists obtained integrated chip timers for bombs from a common source. The Bhatkal brothers and the Bangalore bombers used a Hyderabad house as a hideout. Besides the Bhatkal brothers, key IM members from the state on the loose are bomb expert Yasin Bhatkal and Mudassar.

Andhra Pradesh

Mufti Abu Bashir, arrested for the Gujarat blasts, Maulana Abdul Aleem Islahi, a SIMI sympathiser who runs a madrasa in Hyderabad, Raziuddin Nasir and Safdar Nagori were involved in setting up the SIMI-IM network in the state. The SIMI set up several religious institutions to continue its activities after it was banned and police suspect Darsgah-e-Jihad-o-Shahadat and Tehrik Tahfuz-e-Shair-e-Islam were two among them.

Maulana Naseeruddin of Tehrik was arrested by Gujarat Police in 2004 for his involvement in the murder of former minister of state for home Haren Pandya. Scores of SIMI-IM members were picked up during the crackdown after the twin-blasts of August 2007 and the Mecca Masjid blasts. They included Raziuddin Nasir, Mohtasin Billa, Mohammed Nissar, Mohammed Muqeemuddin Yaser, Mohammed Sohail, Maulana Naseeruddin and Jaber Naseeruddin.

Police claim that they have managed to “finish off” SIMI-IM in the state after “tightening the noose around a few madrasas whose activities were suspect”. Vikar Ahmed, who shot at two policemen in Hyderabad last August, is the only one absconding, besides a few sympathisers against whom police say they do not have evidence.

Delhi

The Delhi module of IM was led by Atif Ameen and is blamed for the serial blasts of 2008 in the Capital. After the blasts, the Delhi Police cracked Ameen’s module in Batla House and killed two Atif and Mohammad Sajid. Five IM members were also arrested from Delhi: Mohammad Saif, Zeeshan Ahmed, Mohammad Shakeel, Zia-Ur-Rehman and Saqib Nisar. Two others, Shahzad Ahmed and Ariz Khan alias Pappu managed to flee but Shahzad was arrested from Azamgarh this month. The Delhi Police continues to look for 12 SIMI-IM members, including Amir Raza Khan, Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal, Mohammad Khaild, Salman, Asadullah Akhtar, Dr Shahnawaz, Mohammad Sajid and Ariz Khan.

With inputs from Bhupendra Pandey, Johnson T A, Sreenivas Janyala, Shaju Philip and Neeraj Chauhan

From Azamgarh, Islamic terrorism shifted base to Pune

“It was here that I learnt that most of the boys had gone to Delhi, Mumbai and Pune to pursue studies or work. It was in these cities that they came in touch with terror modules and were indoctrinated.”

From Azamgarh, terror shifted base to Pune
By: Ketan Ranga Date: 2010-02-16,  Midday

Ketan Ranga remembers the time in 2008 when Azamgarh was under the terror scanner, but all evidence hinted that the real terror hub was elsewhere

The serial blasts in Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Delhi and then the Batla House encounter in 2008 cleared up one thing.

Azamgarh had become the hub of terrorism in India.

Most of the terrorists whose names cropped in relation to these incidents were from Saraimeer, Sanjerpur and villages of Azamgarh.

On September 22, 2008, I went to Azamgarh to cover the arrest and deaths of some of the terrorists. In Saraimeer, I spoke to the families of the alleged terrorists. It was here that I learnt that most of the boys had gone to Delhi, Mumbai and Pune to pursue studies or work. It was in these cities that they came in touch with terror modules and were indoctrinated.

I was still in Azamgarh when the Mumbai police broke up the media wing of Indian Mujahideen (IM), which used to send terror mails before blasts. All those who were nabbed belonged to Pune, including Mansur Azhgar Peerbhoy, the software engineer who was responsible for hacking into unsecured WiFi connections to send terror mails. However, a number of people, including Mohsin Chowdhary, an accused in the Ahmedabad blasts and now a suspect in the Pune blast, went absconding and continued their work.

Further investigations revealed that many students and professionals came in touch with terror modules when they went for Arabic classes in Pune. Arif Bashir, another accused in the Ahmedabad blast, was the IM man who would identify candidates for indoctrination into terror activities at these classes.

The area in Pune where most students from Azamgarh were staying also came under the police scanner.

The police finally realised that the IM had its headquarters in Pune. It was discovered that IM modules from all over India came to Pune to hold meetings and recruit. In fact, even after various IM modules were broken and a number of terrorists were caught, the recruitment in Pune continued unabated.

This was 2008. Even then it was clear that the work on sleeper cells in Pune was progressing at great speed. The Azamgarh module was broken up, but Pune was fast becoming the next hub of terror.

Saturday’s blast at the German Bakery just sealed that conclusion.

Syed Zabiuddin, the Indian Muslim terrorist behind 26/11 Mumbai massacre

Syed Zabiuddin, the Indian face behind 26/11

February 02, 2010

The Indian face behind the November 26, 2008 carnage in Mumbai [ Images ] has emerged out of the shadows. Intelligence agencies have revealed that the mystery man with a heavy Indian accent who was handling the Mumbai attacks was 29-year-old Syed Zabiuddin Syed Zakiuddin Ansari.

The various transcripts and telephonic conversations between the handlers and the attackers, which are in possession with the Mumbai police and the Intelligence Bureau, point out to the role of Syed Zabiuddin in the attacks.

His exact words at the start of the attack at the Nariman House in Mumbai were ‘Tell the media that this is just the trailer, the real movie is yet to begin’. He stayed in touch with the fidayeen member Abu Akasha and his men at the Jewish centre and during the course of the attack used words such as gathbandan (alliance), karenga (to do something) and prashasan (administration), which are very typical Hindi words as against the strong Urdu spoken by the rest of the handlers, who were of Pakistani origin.

The tapes also reveal that Syed Zabiuddin was extremely particular that the fidayeens on the ground should conceal their Pakistani identity at any cost. He is heard saying on tape to the Nariman House attackers to identify themselves only as Indian citizens.

He also directs them to say that they hail from the Toli Chowki area in Hyderabad.

According to the IB, while listening to the transcripts they had a strong doubt about a man of Indian origin present in the control room. While we were sure that Abu Jundal, who is also of Indian origin, was present along with the 26/11 operations team, we were trying to ascertain who this other Indian in the camp was.

Abu Jundal is the man who imparted accent training to the 26/11 attackers so that they could speak like Indians and not get identified as Pakistanis.

The Syed Zabiuddin story

Indian intelligence agencies say that the rise of Syed Zabiuddin was phenomenal. We have been able to establish that he is from Gevrai, a small village in Beed district, Maharashtra [ Images ].

Born on November 13, 1981, he almost made it to the second rung of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba [ Images ], barely seven years after taking the terror path. The son of an insurance agent, Syed Zabiuddin did his schooling at Gevrai and then joined the Indian Technical Institute in Beed district.

It was at this time that his entire path changed and he started drifting towards terrorism.

Like several other jihadis produced on the India [ Images ]n soil, Syed Zabiuddin too made up his mind to join an extremist outfit following the Gujarat riots. Through his earlier days, he had witnessed communal riots in Maharashtra and also was keen on the happenings following the demolition of the Babri Masjid [ Images ]. Immediately after the Gujarat riots, he came in contact with the Students Islamic Movement of India.

Syed Zabiuddin shuttled between Uttar Pradesh [ Images ] and Maharashtra, organising camps and recruiting youth into the SIMI [ Images ]. Prior to taking the terror path, he was sent along with several other SIMI activists to train with the Lashkar. He was asked to approach Mumbai-based operative, Rahil Sheikh who managed to slip him into Pakistan and undergo training.

The IB says that Syed Zabiuddin trained along with several other Indian operatives on the Pakistan-Iran border before returning to India.

According to the IB, he remained with the SIMI for nearly two years before moving completely into the Lashkar. His main areas of operations were Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, from where he managed to recruit the highest number of persons.

From India operations, Syed Zabiuddin was asked to move into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir [ Images ] and take care of operations there for some time. Here too he was given the task of facilitating the entry of Indian operatives, who could fight alongside the Lashkar in Kashmir.

Over a span of just four years, he had built up an excellent network. Although his biggest assignment with the Lashkar was the Mumbai attack, he started off with the Delhi [ Images ] serial blasts, which occurred in 2008. The blasts at New Delhi were mainly an Indian Mujahideen-based operation and the attack on the capital city was probably one of the biggest assignments for the IM.

Prior to handling the Delhi blasts, Syed Zabiuddin was also given a brief to carry out a fidayeen strike in Gujarat, which was to result in the assassination of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi [ Images ].

He slipped into Gujarat along with 11 other operatives and was getting ready for the operation. But the IB picked up information and passed it on to the Gujarat police, which foiled the plot. Ansari managed to give them the slip and fled to Pakistan. His 11 accomplices were, however, arrested.

After executing the Delhi blasts, Syed Zabiuddin was instructed to lie low before being summoned to handle the Mumbai attack. The Lashkar thought that it would be a good idea to use Ansari in this attack since he was familiar with the Mumbai terrain and could guide the attackers well.

Moreover, the Lashkar also wanted to ensure that there was a person speaking with an Indian accent, as it would then look as though the attack was being manufactured in India.

Intelligence sources point out that Syed Zabiuddin is very much in Pakistan and as of today, he is one of the most important men in the Lashkar network that India would like to lay its hands on.

Vicky Nanjappa in Bengaluru.

Muslim Boys killed in Batla House were part of Indian Mujahideen terrorists

‘Boys killed in Batla House were part of Indian Mujahideen’

The Delhi police may have been right after all to go ahead with the encounter at Batla House. If the confession of Mohammad Noushad, one of the accused in the Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru serial blasts is to be believed, then the boys who were killed at Batla House were infact a part of the Indian Mujahideen  which created panic across the country in form of serial blasts.

Soon after the blasts in Delhi which killed over 20 persons, the police picked up intercepts through the Intelligence Bureau that there were some boys hiding in Jamia Nagar. The boys were killed in an encounter which in turn created a flutter among some rights groups claiming that the encounter was fake.

However, the complete confession of Noushad tell a different story. He said that he was in touch with Riyaz Bhatkal, the IM boss who is originally from Karnataka.

The moment the news of the encounter broke out and the pictures of the boys appeared on news channels and other dailies, Bhatkal is said to have told Noushad in a sad tone that these were his boys.

Noushad further claims in his confession that all the boys killed in the encounter were known to Bhatkal and these were the same boys who had helped execute the Delhi blasts.

Noushad also speaks extensively about the role played by a man called Sufi Mohammad in the blasts that rocked Delhi. Sufi according to Noushad had brought in the explosives from Kerala  into Delhi and the same was used in the blasts.

Investigating officials told rediff.com that there was an unusual pattern involved in the serial blasts that rocked Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Surat  and Delhi. All the bombs were made in Hubli, Manipal and Kondotty and then transported to the rest of the country.

Each one set up shop in these respective places and in all prepared over 30 bombs. The real requirement according to the confession of Noushad was 50 bombs, but due to technical problems they were unable to prepare the remaining 20 bombs.

The Indian Mujahideen had originally planned on using at least 20 bombs in Mumbai and carrying out blasts. However that plan had to be dropped for two reasons.

A majority of the IM men were nabbed by the Mumbai crime branch before the plan was executed. Secondly, the plans could not be executed since the consignment could not be reached on time as there were technical flaws while preparing the bombs meant to be used in Mumbai.