vIndianz.com (15 Feb, 2010) — Mumbai: The forensic report into Pune blast on Saturday has said around one to one and a half kg of RDX was used in the explosion, sources said.
“The forensic report has confirmed that RDX was used and the quantity was around one to one and a half kg,” Indian news agency Press Trust of India quoted as its sources saying.
Meanwhile, investigators are looking for possible clues in the CCTV footage obtained from a five star hotel in the vicinity of German Bakery, blasted in the terror attack leaving nine dead and 60 injured.
Poilce said, the footage showed movement of two suspects who could have planted the explosives in the bakery on February 13.
Two foreigners–Italian woman and an Iranian male student–were among the nine persons killed in the first strike since the Mumbai carnage on November 26, 2008.
There was no official confirmation available of the reported finding.
Also a sleeper cell of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), a home-grown Islamist terrorist group, is strongly suspected to be behind Saturday’s Pune bombing that has come days after the arrest of one of its top operatives, highly placed sources said.
Investigators are piecing together clues to unravel the identity of terror group behind the Pune bomb blast and the role of Indian Mujahideen (IM) is not being ruled out, as India renewed the demand for access to US terror suspect David Headley.
No arrests have been made in the attack in which officials said the deadly RDX and Ammonium Nitrate were suspected to have been used.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reviewed the situation with Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi on Sunday following the bomb blast at German Bakery and directed the Centre and the Maharashtra governments to take coordinated and effective action to speedily investigate the matter.
The attack – on a “soft target” like the German Bakery – is a “copycat strike” of what the terror outfit had used in carrying out bombings earlier in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and New Delhi in 2008, the sources told another Indian news agency.
Specific inputs pointed to a possible terrorist strike in the national capital, Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
The respective state governments were asked to beef security at vital installations and crowded places — potential targets of terrorists.
The IM had owned up to a series of blasts in various cities across the country in 2008. It is believed to be a shadow organisation of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
“Explosives like RDX and ammonium nitrate were used to carry out the Pune bomb blast. It is almost a copycat strike like what the IM had used in carrying out blasts in 2008 in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi,” an investigator said.
“We also feel that this attack could be payback for the arrest of alleged Indian Mujahideen operative Shahzad Ahmed who was recently nabbed in connection with the 2008 Delhi serial blasts from his village in Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh).”
Further Reading- Varanasi blast marks arrival of plastic bombs – Times of India
- Delhi cops to visit Varanasi blast site – Times of India
- Pune blast toll rises to 12
- Eight IM, SIMI men held for ’08 Ahmedabad blasts – Times of India
- Indian Mujahideen is back with old ideas, new recruits – Daily News & Analysis
- ATS: Solid proof against Baig; IM, LeT plotted blast – Times of India
- Karachi Attack: Concerned India says stable Pak a must to neutralize terror threat – TruthDive
- Headley: Destroy India
- IM handlers sitting in Pak, says Mumbai police chief – Hindustan Times
- ‘Indian Mujahideen has links with Pak, Lashkar’ – Hindustan Times
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