Date:14/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/01/14/stories/2007011423230300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Grenades seized from Imran similar to those used in IISc. attack

K.V. Subramanya

These type of grenades are said to be normally used in warfare

10 grenades were seized from Imran

The grenades were made in China

BANGALORE: Investigations have revealed that the grenades seized from the suspected terrorist Imran Jalal were made in China and were similar to the ones used in the attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) here in December 2005.

Highly placed sources in the police told The Hindu that the "anti-personnel" grenades seized from Imran were normally used against tank crew during wars.

Such grenades were also used during hijacking of aircraft and they caused a terrible impact when used in a compact area. These grenades fell under the sub-category called "fragmentation grenades," they said.

According to the sources, the terrorists who attacked IISc. had also used anti-personnel grenades. While combing the IISc. campus after the attack, the police traced three unexploded grenades. The grenades were also made in China and were believed to be of the erstwhile "Warsaw Pact origin," they said.

Several Warsaw Pact nations and other communist countries manufactured fragmentation grenades in a big way during the Cold War. Normally, the fragmentation grenade's killing radius is five metres and casualty radius is 15 metres. But fragments (shrapnel) can disperse as far as 200 metres, the sources explained.

Meanwhile, the police have sought the assistance of ballistic experts from the Army to confirm their findings and obtain more details on the explosives.

In all, the police seized 10 grenades from Imran, five from a bag he was carrying on his arrest here on January 5 and five from his rented house in Hospet in Bellary district the next day. The sources said they were yet to ascertain the origin of the grenades and also an AK-47 and AK-56 rifles and over 500 rounds of live ammunition seized from him.

The police are also ascertaining whether the AK-56 rifle seized from two Pakistani nationals, Mohammed Fayaz and Hussain, who were arrested in Mysore in October last, a similar weapon the terrorists had abandoned on the IISc. campus and those seized from Imran had originated from the same source. The bag in which Imran was carrying the weapon was similar to the one that was found by the police while combing the IISc. campus, the sources said.