Hyderabad blasts: South still source of Indian Mujahideen explosives

With security agencies pointing towards Indian Mujahideen's print in Thursday's twin blasts in Hyderabad, the focus is back on the sources from where the IM gets the explosives.

An IM member arrested by the National Investigation Agency earlier this month has revealed that the outfit still gets its supplies of explosives and detonators from south India. The explosives used in a series of bomb attacks starting 2005 — including the 2008 Delhi bombings — came from the south and Udupi had emerged as one of centres.

According to the interrogation report of IM man Afatab Alam alias Farooq, "In August 2011, Imran alias Yasin Bhatkal directed me to go to Mangalore and gave me two mobile phones to take the delivery of some items... Next day, I reached Mangalore after which Yasin directed me to go to Noori Masjid... One Salman called me on my second mobile number and asked me to reach a hotel on station road. He came with a two kilogramme carton in a polybag."

"Yasin then directed me to come back to Delhi. He was in contact with me while I was on train and I told him my location each time he called me," said the report, accessed by The Indian Express. Security officials said that due to largescale mining work in the southern parts, it is easy to procure explosives and detonators. They said certain measures to identify the loopholes have been taken but a lot remain to be done.

Alam also told his interrogators how he and Yasin made bombs using fertiliser at a rented house in Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi. "The fertiliser was first dried under the heat of an electric bulb. Yasin also brought five pressure cookers of five litre capacity each, clocks, thin white wires and a helmet," reads the report. "Apart from these, he had one plastic bag container and some white powder. The dried fertiliser was ... turned into powder. Yasin and I then mixed it with the white powder. Yasin then prepared timers using clocks. I filled the mixture in the pressure cooker and then Yasin put 2-3 detonators connecting them with wires.... These wires were then connected to a clock," reads the report. "In this manner, we prepared five IEDs which were taken away by Irshad and Yasin." Irshad was arrested in 2011 while Yasin is still on the run.

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