NEW DELHI: The twin blasts at Hyderabad are suspected to be the handiwork of Indian Mujahideen(IM) commander Riyaz Bhatkal. Although intelligence agencies are in no rush to jump to a judgment, their suspicion of IM's role is derived from the fact that the terror outfit had targeted precisely the same spot — near the foot overbridge in Dilsukhnagar — on August 25, 2007 when IM carried out serial blasts in Hyderabad.
While the bombs that Bhatkal and his team, essential IM's Pune module, set off at Gokul Chat Bhandar and Lumbini Park killed 42 people, Dilsukhnagar escaped the mayhem because the device planted there malfunctioned. Residents of the locality, however, ran out of luck on Thursday.
During their interrogation in 2008 in connection with their involvement in the serial attack on Hyderabad the year before, two members of IM — a Indian proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba which was launched to cloak Pakistan's involvement in the terror campaign against India — confirmed that Bhatkal was the mastermind.
Speaking to reporters after the twin blasts on Thursday, home minister Sushilkumar Shinde seemed to reflect the principal assumption of the agencies about Bhatkal and his IM gang being the chief suspects when he said the latest attack was similar to the 2007 serial attacks in the city.
The suspicion is derived also from the testimony of the three alleged IM terrorists to Delhi Police in October 2012. Imran, Tabrez and Maqbool told the special cell that they had been assigned by Bhatkal to do a recce of Dilsukhnagar and other communally sensitive areas in Hyderabad.
The motivation for the terror strike is suspected to be the call given by Hafiz Saeed — Lashkar chief and principal mentor of IM terrorists — to avenge the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. United Jehad Council, with Lashkar as one of its main constituents, had on February 13 — four days after Guru was sent to the gallows — vowed to retaliate against the execution.
Intelligence agencies did not treat it as rhetoric, and did sound a countrywide alert on Tuesday, although Shinde acknowledged that the warning was general in nature.
Dilsukhnagar, a Hindu-dominated locality with a history of communal tension, has been on the terrorists' radar for long; at least since 1999 when a bomb was planted near a Hanuman temple. The device was detected in time by police.
The timing was significant, just an year after intelligence agencies zeroed in on Abdul Saleem Junaid. A Pakistani, Junaid was launched into India by Lashkar commander Azam Cheema. While Junaid, who was designated as the head of Lashkar in India, was supposed to be based in Delhi, he found Hyderabad more hospitable and settled down there after marrying a local girl.
The cover of a regular couple proved useful for setting up several sleeper cells, at least a few comprising Pakistanis.
The terror group targeted Dilsukhnagar again in 2002, planting a bomb near the Saibaba temple killing two persons.
The choice of Dilsukhnagar is no accident and fits in the pattern of IM attacks. The terror module has so chosen the day and timing of its attacks as to ensure that the majority community bore the brunt: something which dates to the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai and which is meant to exacerbate communal tension.
Shine, along with home secretary R K Singh, are leaving for Hyderabad on Friday morning for an on-the-spot assessment. There is also going to be a probe into whether Delhi Police shared the specific information about Bhatkal persisting with his plans against Dilsukhnagar with their counterparts in Hyderabad and, in case they did, what did the latter do to fend off the attempt.
Hyderabad being the hub of both National Security Guards and National Investigation Agency can help with the probe.
Hyderabad blasts: Dilsukhnagar has been on Indian Mujahideen radar since 1999
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Hyderabad blasts: Dilsukhnagar has been on Indian Mujahideen radar since 1999
