Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: Expressindia.com
Date: September 21, 2006
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=74204
[Note from the Hindu Vivek Kendra: At least
the police should now stop saying that the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat are
the cause of the attack on Mumbai on July 7, 2006. Of course it is inconvenient
for the secular politicians and the secularists to say so.]
Amidst indications of a breakthrough in the
July 11 train blasts case, police said some 'big terrorist group' was behind
the bombings but ruled out al-Qaeda's involvement in the attacks that killed
nearly 200 people.
"Our investigations have hinted at the
role of a big terrorist organisation in the blasts," a senior official
attached to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) probing the case said, ruling out
any link between the July 11 train bombings and the 9/11 terror strikes in
the US.
Though he declined to give details about the
probe as it was at the 'final stage', informed sources in Delhi said at least
six suspected Lashker-e-Toiba cadres had been detained for allegedly planning
and executing the bombings with the help of members of the banned SIMI.
Leads were picked up by investigators from
various states and the hand of the let was quite evident, said senior officials
attached with the probe.
The sources said the blasts were part of LeT's
policy of spreading terror in the hinterland after the 2002 sectarian violence
in Gujarat.
They said the role of top militants Rahil,
Fayaz and Zaibuddin Ansari was becoming clearer and they are suspected to
be the persons who motivated others to carry out the attacks.
For the first time, the ATS revealed the LeT's
involvement in the blasts in an application filed in a Mumbai court on Monday
to seek custody of two suspects, Faisal Shaikh and his brother Muzammil, who
were arrested on July 27.
The application said, "the blasts are
a part of an international conspiracy involving terrorist outfits across the
border. The conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan by Azam Chima, the alleged
mastermind behind the blasts."
The ATS said in the application that Faisal
has revealed during scientific tests the involvement of international groups.
Muzammil used a mobile phone (number 9869190302)
to contact LeT operatives across the border. Muzammil and Faisal had undergone
training in Pakistan and were in touch with Azam Chima, who is based at Bahwalpur
in Pakistan, through one Raheel Atta-ur-Rehman Sheikh who operates from Dubai,
the application said.
According to ATS, the July 11 plot was hatched
in Pakistan and it was Chima's idea to plant bombs in first class compartments
as 'businessmen and high profile' people travel in them.
It said Faisal had made several other 'sensitive
revelations' during scientific tests carried out on him at the Bangalore-based
Forensic Science Laboratory but it would be inappropriate to disclose them.
