Posted on 07/12/2006 12:05:36 AM PDT by indianrightwinger
New Lashkar module maybe behind blasts
July 12, 2006 12:42 IST
The Mumbai police suspect that a new module of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba that may have penetrated Mumbai recently, could be responsible for yesterday's serial bomb blasts that killed over 190 people and left over 600 injured.
Mumbai crime branch officials, who probed the blasts conducted by the Lashkar in Mumbai in 2002 and 2003, told PTI that the entire LeT module involved in those blasts had been exposed. Two to three LeT operatives from the module, who are absconding, do not seem to be involved in yesterday's blasts, they said.
"It could be an entirely new LeT module that has entered Mumbai with the specific assignment of executing yesterday's blasts," officials said.
From the damage caused to the railway compartments and the number of casualties, the Mumbai police suspect the use of RDX in the blasts, but tjey are also not ruling out the possibility of compacted low-intensity explosives. This possibility is being explored against the backdrop of the seizure of 43 kg of RDX by the Anti Terrorists Squad from Aurangabad and other parts of Marathwada and north Maharashtra in the past few months.
"More RDX consignments could still be hidden in Mumbai and around, and the same may have been used in yesterday's blasts," a Mumbai police official said.
A senior Mumbai crime branch officer told PTI that there was a definite pattern in the blasts and the entire operation was executed with great precision. The samples collected from the blast-hit trains have been sent for forensic examination, and experts said it would take some time to reach a definite conclusion.
While Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy could not be contacted, ATS chief K P Raghuvanshi told PTI, "It it too premature to comment on the issue."
Meanwhile, an initial probe into Tuesday's serial blasts in Mumbai's suburban trains has revealed that the explosions were probably timed to trigger off at 6:15 pm, and the explosive devices could have been loaded at Churchgate station, the police said today.
All the seven blasts aboard suburban trains on the Western Railway line took place between 6 pm and 6.30 pm yesterday, and the pattern that has been derived by the police is that all took place on north-bound slow and fast trains that originated from Churchgate station.
Mumbai Crime Branch sources told PTI that going by the previous experiences of the train blasts in Mumbai, it was likely that the explosive devices were loaded at Churchgate station and were fitted with commonly used mechanical timers set to explode at 6.15 pm.
"The perpetrators wanted to create an atmosphere of terror and knew that triggering simultaneous blasts in various parts of the city would serve the purpose," a senior crime branch official said, adding that the suspects may have disembarked from the trains at stations immediately after Churchgate.
Kashmiri militant groups have denied responsibility according to a wire report from Reuters.
(Recasts with Lashkar denial, details, changes dateline)
SRINAGAR, India, July 12 (Reuters) - Leading Muslim militant groups operating in Indian Kashmir denied on Wednesday any role in the bomb blasts in India's biggest city Mumbai and described the attacks as "barbaric" or "outrageous".
Indian security sources were quoted as naming Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as the prime suspect for the seven bomb blasts on Mumbai's rail network on Tuesday that killed at least 183 people and wounded close to 700.
But Lashkar denied any role.
"These are inhuman and barbaric acts. Islam does not permit the killing of innocent people," a man who identified himself as "doctor Ghaznavi", spokesman of the Lashkar-e-Taiba said.
"Blaming LeT for such inhuman acts is an attempt by the Indian security agencies to defame Kashmiri mujahideens (freedom fighters)," he said in telephone calls made to newspaper offices in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir.
Indian authorities have blamed Lashkar for several major attacks in India in recent years, including bomb blasts in New Delhi in October last year which killed more than 60 people.
Another leading Kashmiri guerrilla group, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, denounced the bomb attacks as "outrageous", saying it abhorred the killing of civilians.
"Attacks on civilians are not part of our manifesto. We never carried out such attacks nor will allow anyone to do so," the group's spokesman, Ehsan Elahi, said in Islamabad.
The Mumbai blasts took place hours after suspected Islamist militants killed eight people, seven of them tourists, in five grenade attacks in Srinagar. Police in Kashmir accuse Lashkar of being behind the attacks and say they have already arrested one grenade thrower from the group.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and both countries claim the region in full.
The nuclear rivals have fought two wars over the Himalayan territory where more than 45,000 people have been killed in the Muslim separatist revolt since 1989.
New Delhi says Pakistan abets the insurgency but Islamabad denies the charge, saying it does all it can to stop incursions into Indian Kashmir from its territory.
http://www.alertnet.org
RDX stands for Royal Demolition eXplosive. It is also known as cyclonite or hexogen. The chemical name for RDX is 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine. It is a white powder and is very explosive.
RDX is used as an explosive and is also used in combination with other ingredients in explosives. Its odor and taste are unknown. It is a synthetic product that does not occur naturally in the environment. It creates fumes when it is burned with other substances.
Defiant commuters return to rails
By Ralphson David in Mumbai
12jul06
DILIP Khadaria settled into his first-class compartment and scoffed at the idea that more bombs would stop him from travelling on Mumbai's trains.
"Terrorists can do anything they like," the 52-year-old said on the western line today, a day after more than 180 people were killed and 600 wounded in a series of bomb attacks.
"We are businessmen, we will be going back to work. It won't hamper our business, it won't stop our work," he said.
~ SNIP ~
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,19766434%255E1702,00.html
Islam does not permit the killing of innocent people
Riiiighhhhttt, thanks for that 'clarification'
if the whole bombing was not so disgusting, this would actually be funny...
Uh Huh, sure pal. Islam has a stellar track record .
Module = Cell?
I see a clear change in their strategy. Now they want to publicly deny it. But I'm sure they also called the Indian Army to tell them how they're rejoicing these deaths. No Indian Hindu/Government agency can be responsible for such acts. Its clear that it was a Pakistani-funded organization like LeT and JeM.
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