The Hindu : Was one of the temple attackers a local?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 29, 2002

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Other States - Gujarat

Was one of the temple attackers a local?

By Manas Dasgupta

GANDHINAGAR Sept. 28. Contrary to the claims that the terrorists who attacked the Akshardham temple here were both Pakistanis and well-trained, some senior Gujarat police officials investigating the incident believe that at least one of them could be from Gujarat and may be a "novice'' in terrorist actions.

The doubts have been raised from the reported statement of the driver of the taxi, which carried them from the Ahmedabad railway station to Akshardham, that at least one of them knew Gujarati.

The driver, Raju Thakore, is said to have told the police on Friday that during the entire journey they did not exchange a word except at the Koba circle where he was told in Hindi to halt for some time to buy bottles of water.

But the sources said the driver told the officials that one of them had been conversing with him from time to time in Gujarati but the talks were of a general nature.

The senior officials, however, said that knowing Gujarati was not conclusive evidence of their origin.

Senior police officials are still baffled over the motives of the terrorists. If merciless killing was the only intention, they could have gunned down many more (29 were killed and 74 injured in the attack) as they both had ammunition and hundreds of devotees in the temple at their mercy before the police arrived and cordoned off the complex after about 30 minutes.

After the first burst of gunfire in which all the casualties were reported, the duo climbed to the roof of the exhibition hall, and did not open fire again till the security staff arrived.

As people ran helter-skelter many of them were very much in the firing range, but they were not targeted.

Apparently they also had no intention to escape, which they could have after the initial firing, when there was no one to prevent them. The security staff of the complex do not carry even a kitchen knife and could not have stopped them. The duo were on the roof of the exhibition hall and only after the arrival of the security forces, did they come down and hid themselves near the bathroom, where they were located till the National Security Guards arrived and engaged them in a gunfight.

A senior police official who was leading a group of 10 officers and State police commandos in a rescue operation later in the evening, said he did not find the terrorists to be either highly motivated or well-trained. The group without knowing the location of the terrorists was moving towards the main temple to try to rescue the people trapped inside. As they moved a few yards, a burst of bullets came towards them and six officers and jawans were injured.

``We were like sitting ducks but I could see in the moonlight that instead of firing at us further, the duo ran towards the bathroom and hid behind the door and were peeping at us from a small opening. Had they been highly motivated and well-trained, they would not have run away particularly when they had superior fire power,'' the official said. ``Apparently they wanted to convey some message through their action'' he said. He did not rule out the possibility that they were trying to convey the message that they were taking revenge for the killing of Muslims in the Gujarat riots and one of them could be from a family and had witnessed the slaying of his relatives in the riots.

According to the Additional Director-General of Police, Mani Ram, who headed a group to "reconstruct'' the entire episode, the terrorists after jumping the wall of the complex at gate number three prepared themselves behind a bush, from where the sleeping bags containing the firearms were recovered, and through the children's park ran towards the main temple while firing and lobbying grenades. They went to the basement of the main temple and tried to bomb the switchgear to switch off the lights but were not successful. Some splinters were found in the wall and roof of the basement but the electricity supply remained unaffected.

Coming up, they tried to enter the main temple but by the time all the three gates were closed by the volunteers. Contrary to the earlier theory, Mr. Mani Ram found that later the terrorists entered through the exit of the exhibition hall and while firing came out from the entrance where the maximum number of casualties were reported. If taking hostage was the intention, they could have taken captive some people in the exhibition hall, but did not.

The State Director-General of Police, K. Chakravarthi, however, said that the duo were "outsiders and rank strangers'' for Akshardham and said they could not have carried out the operation without the help of some local people. He said the investigation now was concentrated on finding the "local links'' of the terrorists.

Mr. Chakravarthi said the police had sought the help of some handwriting experts to trace the origin of the letters found on the bodies of the duo. He also said that since Raju Thakore had already identified the terrorists to be the passengers he carried from the station to Akshardham, the police were not questioning the drivers of other white Ambassador cars.

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Was one of the temple attackers a local?