blast

New Delhi: Little known terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, which claimed responsibility for the serial blasts in Ahmedabad, is behind the earlier serial bombings in Jaipur and in three towns of Uttar Pradesh and had even sent out prior warnings on all three occasions.

Sixteen bomb blasts ripped through the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat on Saturday evening, killing 18 people and injuring over 70.

Blasts rock Ahmedabad  | Images  | Full coverage  | Vent your ire 

The Intelligence Bureau claims that the Indian Mujahideen is a new ploy by terror outfits to misguide probe agencies. Intelligence sources said the Indian Mujahideen is just a new name used by terror groups that were banned by the Indian government in the last few years.

The sources said that the Indian Mujahideen comprises activists from banned outfits like Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI) and the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

The heat was on the HuJI, which had masterminded the Hyderabad blasts and in the Ajmer Dargah in Rajasthan last year, and hence it was important for them to give their outfit a new name in India, the sources said.

The Indian Mujahideen also has youngsters who were part of SIMI. There are reports that several youngsters from the banned outfit had been recruited into various terror outfits including HuJI.

In an email sent five minutes before the Ahmedabad blasts, the Indian Mujahideen warned -"The INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN strike again! - Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death!"

The modus operandi used in Ahmedabad is similar to the ghastly blasts in the Pink City of Jaipur in Rajasthan and those in the Uttar Pradesh towns of Varanasi, Faizabad and capital city Lucknow.

The May 13 bombings in Jaipur claimed 63 lives. The Indian Mujahideen had emailed video clips to two Delhi-based media organizations of a bicycle, which it said was packed with explosives and similar ones were set to go off at half a dozen sites in Jaipur, with the aim of disrupting the tourist industry.

The claim was also sent to the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), which governs the state of Rajasthan.

The devices were designed to cause terrible damage. Explosives like RDX combined with ammonium nitrate were mixed with ball bearings and wired to timing devices. As many as 200 people were injured in the bombings - the first such attack in Jaipur.

The Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the November 23, 2007, serial bomb blasts in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow where at least 13 people were killed.

Hi-level meeting to review security  | Advani blames lack of tough anti-terror law 

The e-mail from guru_alhindi@yahoo.fr address received by a private TV channel claimed that the blasts were targeted against Uttar Pradesh lawyers as they had thrashed terrorists and refused to take their cases.

The e-mail was received by the channel just a few minutes before the blasts.

It said that "Islamic raids" would be conducted against lawyers within a few minutes because the police apprehended "two innocent groups and framed them with fake charges".

SEARCH