7th JULY BOMBAY BOMB BLAST CASE SOLVED: LINKS ESTABLISHED WITH
THE 9/11 BOMBERS OF WTC
Seventeen persons are currently being interrogated as the main accused by the Anti– Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Bombay (Mumbai) Police. A breakthrough in investigations has been made, with three of them confessing to their involvement.
These are the facts gleaned from the first reports trickling in.
-Fifty operatives were involved in the blast.
-The plot was hatched in 2000-2001, when those responsible for the blasts received
training in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), where they also met the 9/11 operatives of
the New York WTC blasts (Mohammed Atta led the attack on 9/11)
-The training for the Bombay Bombers was organized by the Al Qaeda. (This is the first
time that the Al Qaeda’s involvement in terrorist activity in India has been definitely
established.) The Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) did the rest.
-The same group could be responsible for the Malegaon blasts near a Muslim cemetery
on the occasion of a Muslim holy day, two weeks back.
-The Maharashtra State Government has approached the Central government to involve
the FBI in the investigation.
-Two more of the prime accused are believed to have escaped to Bangladesh. They have
family as well as property in Maharashtra.
-Azam Cheema is believed to be the kingpin in the Mumbai blasts.
-The terrorists had traveled through Pakistan to Pok, and from there to Iran before
arriving in Mumbai to carry out the blasts.
-More details are expected to follow in the next few days.
-In a televised interview Mr. G. Parthasarathy, former Indian High Commissioner to
Pakistan, declared that the Al Quaeda linked up with the Lashkar e Toiba to establish a
world-wide terrorist network. But it is the LeT which is masterminding terrorism in
India.
In the meantime the court verdict in the 1993 Mumbai Bomb blast case continue to be announced in daily instalments, setting a precedent in the functioning of the Indian judiciary.