Bangalore, February 2:One of India’s most wanted terrorists, Abdul Shahed alias Shahed Bilal, and his brother Abdul Samad — both Hyderabad natives — were shot dead in Karachi by an unknown assassin soon after the August 25 twin blasts in Hyderabad. This information came out during a series of revelations by three alleged terror operatives who were functioning out of Karnataka’s Hubli-Dharwad and Davangere region.

Raziuddin Nasir, 21, son of cleric Maulana Naseeruddin who is linked to the murder conspiracy of former Gujarat BJP MLA Haren Pandya, told various sets of interrogators following his arrest in Davangere on January 11 that Bilal and Samad were dead. Senior security officials in Karnataka said this information was a confirmation of facts already available with Indian security agencies.

Bilal has been linked to several acts of terrorism in southern India, including the October 2005 Hyderabad police task force office blast, the December 2005 Bangalore Indian Institute of Science attack, the May 18, 2007 Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blasts and the August 25, 2007 Hyderabad twin blasts case.

Samad, one of Bilal’s six brothers, was known to be living in Saudi Arabia and was linked as a possible financer of his activities. Nasir claims to have been in touch with Bilal until he was killed last year. He has provided investigators with the Pakistan telephone numbers he claimed to have used to communicate with him.

Nasir was arrested by the Davangere police, along with a friend Asadullah Abubacker, in a case of pure chance on January 11, after two alert constables noticed they were carrying six sets of fake number plates when they fell off a motorcycle. Further investigations revealed possible terrorism links including Nasir’s connection to Maulana Naseeruddin and also lead the police to an associate Mohammed Asif, a final year medical student at the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences.

Since then Nasir has been rather forthcoming on his terrorism links and has told investigators he wanted to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan when he underwent training in Muzaffarabad, under the guidance of Bilal. He was however asked to set up a base in Karnataka by Bilal, sources said quoting Nasir’s interrogation. He is believed to have been outside Hyderabad since 2005.

He used at least two passports during this time, including a fake passport for travel in 2005 from Saudi Arabia, where he was based for a while, to Pakistan, sources said. Among terrorism plans revealed by Nasir are car bomb attacks on the director general of police in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Sources said Nasir even demonstrated his expertise with creating bombs to investigators.

The Hyderabad youth has also told the police that he is aware of the man who carried out the December 2005 IISc attack. He has identified the person as a Pakistani national called Abu Hamza.

Nasir has cited Azam Ghauri, Fasiuddin and Abdul Aziz also as his reasons for taking up jihad. He also claims to have been upset by the arrest of over 50 “innocent” people in terrorism cases,” said a senior police officer who interrogated Nasir.

Police are now looking for hard evidence to bring strong cases against the trio and are also looking for associates linked to them. “We think Nasir could be involved in the Mecca Masjid blast case, the Hyderabad police have sought custody,” a police officer said.

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