Hyderabad: Investigators of the Mecca Masjid blast have claimed a breakthrough when they recovered a SIM card which was purchased from Kolkata and its trail led to a link with HUJI activist Mohammed Abdul Sahed alias Bilal, who is wanted for the blasts on the Samjhauta Express.
The SIM card was meant to be used to trigger a second explosive device at the mosque. It was found in the phone attached to an unexploded bomb. This has virtually confirmed the strong suspicion of the Andhra police authorities about the involvement of a jihadi outfit in the attack that shook the Charminar City on Friday.
Sources in the team probing the blast said the Bangladesh-based terror group has now emerged as the prime suspect for the attack. They said indications have also emerged that Bilal could have masterminded the attack with the help of some cadres of the banned SIMI and sleeper cells of Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The sources also said that the explosive material — RDX and TNT — used in the blast were imported from Bangladesh. These material are not available in India. "All that the local accomplices had to do was to put it together, something than can be done by anyone with minimal knowledge," the sources pointed out.
Initial investigations suggest three local accomplices visited Mecca Masjid between 0900 hours and 1000 hours on Friday and returned an hour later after planting the bombs.
Police picked up three youths from Bhavaninagar and Kala Patthar areas of the Old City on Friday night in connection with the blast. The sources believe Bilal's brother Zaheed alias Mohammed Abdul Sahed, who is also a HUJI activist, could have provided the cellphones which were used to trigger the blasts. Zaheed runs a mobile-phone repair shop.
Both HUJI and Jaish follow the Deobandi sect of Islam. Bilal has earlier masterminded a suicide attack on the Special Task Force's headquarters in Hyderabad, that had left one police personnel dead. The outfit was also blamed for the Sankat Mochan bombing in Varanasi. Bilal is also wanted for the blasts on the Samjauta Express in February that left 68 people dead.
Bilal, who took over the command of HUJI on October 12, 2005, has been on the list of most wanted terrorists and he is believed to be in Karachi at present. Bilal is said to be also working for the Lashker-e-Taiba.
An associate of Rasool Khan 'Party', a resident of Gujarat, Bilal has been instrumental in sending youths for arms training to Pakistan through Dhaka and some Gulf states, the sources said.
Eleven people were killed in the explosion that occurred during Friday prayers while five more died when police fired on protesters who attacked shops and petrol pumps in the communally-sensitive Charminar area.
(With agency inputs)
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