The live bombs defused in the capital were exactly the same as the 22 recovered in Surat in July, pointing towards a distinct pattern between the Delhi and Gujarat terror attacks.
NEW DELHI: The live bombs defused or dismantled in the capital were exactly the same as the 22 recovered in Surat in July, say investigating agencies, pointing towards a distinct pattern and striking similarities between the Delhi and Gujarat terror attacks.
The Delhi Police and the National Security Guards (NSG) found three live bombs - two in Connaught Place and one at India Gate, a World War I monument. According to the police, the bombs had electric wires attached to them.
"A close examination of the bombs recovered in Delhi appear to be similar to the bombs recovered in Surat," Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi Range) said.
A total of 23 low-intensity bombs were recovered from Surat in July this year after a series of blasts ripped through Gujarat's commercial centre Ahmedabad killing around 50 people.
According to intelligence officials, there is a common thread to the bomb explosions in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur and Delhi, pointing that the same group was responsible everywhere.
In the last three terror attacks in the country, the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, believed to be striking core of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), sent email threats to television channels, alerting them about the impending blasts.
Every time the email was sent exactly five minutes before the blasts, almost challenging the police and security agencies to stop them. On every occasion the terrorists executed multiple but low-intensity blasts in crowded areas. The bombs had shrapnels and ball bearings to cause maximum devastation.
Investigating agencies were not surprised when they traced the source of the latest email again to Mumbai. The Gujarat Police had also tracked the email source to Mumbai after the Ahmedabad serial blasts.
"We have found enough evidence suggesting the same group that carried out blasts in other parts of the country was involved in Delhi," said a Delhi Police official involved in the investigations.
"We are probing on this line and may send a team to Gujarat to interrogate the arrested members of SIMI. We are hoping that this case will be cracked soon," the official added.
The techie who drafted the email by hacking into the wi-fi Internet connection of a US resident before the Ahmedabad serial blasts is still at large. The mastermind, Mufti Abu Bashir, had been arrested in Gujarat.
"It is not hidden from you any more that after tasting the bitterest of defeats at our hands at Ahmedabad and Surat, the Indian Mujahideen - the home-grown Jihadi militia of Islam - (has) again attacked to make you face the disastrous consequences of the injustice and oppression inflicted upon the Muslims all over the country," the outfit said in its latest email.
"We will continue to punish you even before your earlier wounds have healed."
It added: "To dreadfully terrorise you this time, we are about to devastate your very first metropolitan center ... with nine most powerful serial bomb blasts."
It is perceived that the Indian Mujahideen Saturday accomplished its 'Operation BAD' - which the intelligence community feels stands for 'Operation Bangalore-Ahmedabad-Delhi'.
After more than 20 blasts in Ahmedabad on the evening of July 26, killing 56 people, intelligence officials intercepted a call made from the across the border claiming "Operation BAD is successful".
Following the serial blasts in Delhi on Saturday, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said he had warned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about terrorists' plans to target New Delhi. But he admitted that he did not have precise information about the dates and places of bombings.
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