ISI, Lashkar behind 7/11 blasts: Mumbai police

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Sunday, October 1, 2006 (Mumbai):

The Maharashtra police have revealed the conspiracy behind the 7/11 blasts in the city's suburban train network.

According to the police, the blasts were carried out by a group of Pakistanis and Indians who used RDX packed in pressure cookers.

In a press conference on Saturday, Mumbai police commissioner AN Roy nailed the ISI for masterminding the blasts.

"The entire case, of seven serial blasts in Mumbai local trains has been cracked. The entire operation was planned by Pakistan's ISI and executed in India by local LeT operatives and some members of SIMI. Several of these operatives were trained in Pakistan, in Bhawalpur," he said.

Fifteen people have been arrested in the case so far of which twelve are said to be directly involved in the conspiracy. The case against the other three is still being worked out.

According to Roy, the plot was hatched in Bahawalpur four months ago in March 2006 in by Azam Cheema, an LeT commander.

Cheema ran the operation using three modules in India, headed by Faisal Sheikh, a businessmen from Bandra, Kamaluddin Ansari from Bihar and Ehteshan Siddiqi, a SIMI leader.

Deadly plan
They were given safe houses to stay across Mumbai: in Malad, Borivali, Mumbra and the Bandra home of Faisal Sheikh.

The RDX, about 15 kilos, was brought by one Ehsamullah from Pakistan.

Three groups of people had arrived from Pakistan for this operation. The bombs were assembled in Shivajinagar in the slums of Givandi in Chembur.

They were placed inside seven pressure cookers and then stored in Fasial's Bandra residence. Each bomb had RDX with ammonium nitrate and quartz timers.

On the day of the blasts, the men set off in groups of two, one Indian and one Pakistani to board trains. The deadly cargo was hidden in umbrellas to avoid detection.

But one Pakistani didn't manage to get off, his body lying unclaimed in a Mumbai hospital. Police say his name was Salim and he was from Lahore.

Another Pakistani stayed back and was shot dead in an encounter in Mumbai's Antop Hill. At that time, he was identified as Abu Osama.

Pak involvement confirmed
In several earlier terrorist strikes including the '93 bomb blasts, there's been talk of a Pak hand.

But now for the first time, investigators have spoken of Pakistani nationals arriving in India to be part of the bombing.

These are explosive claims, which could impact Indo-Pak relations, one reason why the police will now have to produce hard evidence to back their claims.

Pakistan was quick to react to the revelations made on the 7/11 investigations. Pakistan's interior minister said India had often blamed Pakistan after such incidents.

No link with 9/11
One of the claims made by a media network some time back was that the 7 /11 bomb blasts were linked to the 9 /11 bombings in New York.

It was claimed that Mohammed Atta had trained along with the 7/ 11 bombers, a claim so unlikely that NDTV had refrained from reacting to it at that time.

This was backed by every investigating agency in Mumbai and New Delhi which had had rubbished it off the record.

On Saturday, the Mumbai police went on to categorically state that there is no link between the two incidents.

More arrests
Meanwhile, the police have arrested Naved, a resident of Mira road in Thane, for his direct links with the blasts.

On Friday, four more men were arrested and sent to police custody till October 13. However, details of the charges against them are still unclear.

Sources have told NDTV that Mohammed Majid, the man arrested from Kolkata, is an active member of the LeT sleeper cell and may have links with the RDX haul in Aurangabad.

More arrests are likely in the future with the government claiming that the conspiracy has been solved.

A fast track court will be set up in the Mumbai train blasts case to ensure swift justice unlike in the case of the 1993 serial blasts, which has dragged on for 13 years.