No recent intelligence report had hinted at the possibility of terrorist strikes on the western suburban rail in Mumbai on Tuesday.
No recent intelligence report had hinted at the possibility of terrorist strikes on the western suburban rail in Mumbai on Tuesday.
A senior Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) officer on Tuesday admitted to DNA, “We had no specific input on any terrorist group targeting city facilities. Only a general alert had been put in place for some time.”
The attacks have also punctured the theory propagated by the ATS and the other intelligence agencies that terror groups won’t “disturb” the city as it was slowly turning into a sanctuary for them.
The ATS is yet to confirm whether the attack was masterminded by the Laskkar-e-Toiba (LeT) or was a “concerted” one.
“The style of attack smacks of a typical Lashkar operation. But chances of the involvement of other similar groups can’t be ruled out at this stage,” said a senior ATS officer.
Terror squad officials had said that operatives of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) were active in the city.
But, the synchronised seven near-simultaneous explosions inside railway compartments took the police and the intelligence agencies by surprise.
One theory which the ATS and the central IB are not ruling out is whether the explosive material used in the attacks were part of the same consignment of 40 kg RDX, which was seized from Aurangabad and Nashik in May.
“We had confirmed information that we could not lay our hands on the total number of RDX consignments ferried across the state during the arms haul. So, we are not ruling out anything,” said another ATS officer.
However, inputs prepared by the IB and the intelligence arm of the terror squad had suggested chances of more Kashsmir-based terrorist outfits (apart from Lashkar) targeting the city.
Inputs gleaned from the interrogation of the terrorists, who were arrested from various parts of the city in January, was a pointer to this effect.
A top state Intelligence Department (SID) official, however, said, “The abortive strike at RSS headquarters and recent movements of Lashkar operatives in Mumbai and other parts of the state and the arms and explosives haul were all indications of a larger design on the part of terrorist outfits.”
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