Since Muslims were the target, intelligence officials will probe if Hindu fundamentalists were involved.
Since Muslims were the target, intelligence officials will probe if Hindu fundamentalists were involved.
The state police are being very cautious in their response to the Malegaon blasts. Top intelligence officials said on Friday they had no information about the blasts that occurred in Malegaon, near Bada Kabrastan and Mushawarat Chowk.
"Malegaon is a communally sensitive town but we had no pinpointed intelligence as regards the blasts," a senior State Intelligence Department (SID) official said.
Director General of Police PS Pasricha declined to link the blasts either to any Islamic terrorist outfit or to Hindu fanatic groups. "It is too early to really comment on the involvement of any particular group in the incident. All angles to the case will be probed," the DGP said. One credible line of investigation, according to SID officials, would be to establish the possible involvement of Hindu fundamentalist groups, considering the fact that the target group was the Muslim community.
A large number of members from the community had assembled at the Bada Kabristan for Shab-e-Baraat.
However, intelligence officials said they would try to ascertain if the blasts could be the handiwork of "ideologically diverse" radical Islamic groups. Investigations will also explore a "possible" SIMI angle to the incident.
"The incident will be probed in the light of the fact that the Students Islamic Movement of India’s Malegaon unit has become active once again. Members of this unit have triggered communal violence in the past," said a senior intelligence official, requesting anonymity. The police said the explosives were similar to the bombs that were planted on cycles outside the Vile Parle station in Mumbai in January 2003.
It is suspected that "crude materials" could have been assembled and used to trigger the blasts. "We need to examine the elements used to make the bombs," said an officer of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which is investigating the case. Mangled remains of a bicycle and two identified packets were found at the blast sites.
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