Date:07/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/07/stories/2008100750450100.htm

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Hyderabad blasts: no clue on locals’ role

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad police are not yet sure if the Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorist module that was busted by Mumbai police on Monday took the help of any locals in carrying out the Hyderabad twin blasts.

Twenty members of the terrorist outfit IM, which was allegedly responsible for several terror strikes across the country, including the explosions at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat last year, were arrested by Mumbai police. They announced that while Mohammed Saddik Shaikh conspired to trigger blasts, Riyaz Bhatkal, Aneeq Sayeed and Akbar planted bombs at Gokul Chat, Lumbini Park and near a foot-over-bridge at Dilsukhnagar respectively.

While the Improvised Explosive Device at Dilsukhnagar failed to explode, the other two went off almost simultaneously killing over 40 persons.

Incidentally, all the four accused are not from Hyderabad. This baffled the police who had been thinking that some locals directly or indirectly were involved in the deadly terror attack.

Except Shaikh, stated to be a friend of Mujahid, who was shot dead by a Gujarat police team when a mob tried to prevent the arrest of Moulana Naseeruddin in 2004 before DGP office here, others have no connection to Hyderabad. “We are not yet sure how close was Shaikh to Mujahid; they knew each other well since both hailed from Azamgarh of Uttar Pradesh,” police sources said. Originally from Azamgarh, Mujahid’s family settled in Hyderabad two decades ago.

Police learnt that blasts in Jaipur were carried out by members of IM belonging to New Delhi. The accused went to Delhi in buses carrying readymade bombs, planted them at select places and returned to Delhi by train.