The Indian Express has now learnt that not only were there wire intercepts to justify the allegation but forensic experts of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) — the multinational force formed in Afghanistan after the Taliban rulers were forced to quit Kabul following 9/11 — have now traced the explosives used to Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) in Wah city in the north of Pakistan’s Punjab Province.

Although the Marriott probe is yet to zero in on the origin of the explosives, suspicion is growing that it could be from a truck carrying explosives from Wah believed to have been hijacked by al Qaeda some months ago, the sources said. Retired Brigadier Mehmood Khan, a former secretary of Pakistan’s volatile FATA or the Federally Administered Tribal Areas region which borders Afghanistan, had said as much in the regional media, they pointed out.

With al Qaeda, Taliban and other Islamist militant groups splintered and operating separately as well as some of them jointly, more focused investigation is needed to conclusively establish the links between the two blasts and its perpetrators, sources said. But this once again signaled that terror groups in the region continued to enjoy the support or sympathy of rogue elements and extremists in Pakistani agencies, they added.

Incidentally, the Wah munitions complex was itself the target of an attack last month in which about 60 people were killed when two Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up as workers were leaving at the end of their shift. The complex is one of Pakistan’s biggest centres producing conventional arms and ammunition and its products have also been exported to more than two dozen countries, including Afghanistan and Iraq.