Intelligence agencies and the Andhra Pradesh police are tracking the pugmarks of absconding high-profile operatives of Indian Mujahideen (IM), the outfit suspected to have carried out the blasts with the help of their Pakistan-based mentors.
“Central agencies have received electronic intercepts that suggest that at least eight to nine modules could have actively participated in planning and executing the Hyderabad blast,” says a source.
He also added that the Hyderabad blasts bear the IM imprint—the use of separate modules for planning and execution. “Assadullah is suspected to have carried out the planning and the bombs could have been planted by the local modules of the Deccan Mujahideen,” sources said. Deccan Mujahideen is a splinter group of IM. Intelligence agencies warn that electric and hydropower projects in South India are next on the radar of the terrorist outfits and an advisory for stringent security deployment have been issued.
An earlier arrest in 2005 of Rae Bareilly-born Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Imran had given investigators a clear picture of IM’s modus operandi and how Hyderabad is a priority terror target.
According to security agency sources, IM modules were already planning terror strikes in Hyderabad, but after Afzal Guru’s hanging, the timing acquired greater urgency.
Immediately after Guru’s execution, both Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, under the banner United Jihad Council, had vowed to attack India at a public protest meeting held at the Islamabad Press Club on February 13.
The Sunday Standard