Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Hubli were on radar
The death toll in Thursday’s twin blasts in Hyderabad rose to 16 on Friday and the condition of five of the 117 injured remained critical, even as investigators intensified efforts to achieve a breakthrough and the police found a detonator at one of the sites.
Thousands of onlookers, besides political leaders, continued to throng the blast sites at Dilsukhnagar, a bustling area in the south-eastern parts of Hyderabad.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, accompanied by Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, visited the sites on Friday to get firsthand information about the first terror strike in the country after Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru was executed.
Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said initial leads into the attack pointed to a possible involvement of the Indian Mujahideen as the blasts carried their trademark signature.
Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Coimbatore and Hubli, and Gujarat and other parts of Maharashtra were specifically alerted by Central intelligence agencies that terror groups were planning to launch attacks in retaliation to the hanging of Guru, the sources said.
The entire modus operandi of the blasts such as the use of bicycle, trigger, ammonium nitrate and shrapnels and coordinated attacks in crowded places all pointed to the Indian Mujahideen and the investigating agencies were looking into various terror modules having links to Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and Darbhanga in Bihar, the sources said.
The agencies were trying to find out whether the attack was planned just after Guru’s hanging, as carrying out a coordinated strike within a few days was a difficult task, the sources said.
Islamabad conference
The MHA and investigating agencies had also taken notice of threats issued to India by the United Jihad Council, a group of various Pakistan-based terror outfits, at its conference held last week in Islamabad to pay tributes to Guru, where they reportedly resolved to “avenge” his hanging.
Top militants of the banned anti-India militant groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed had pledged to step up their anti-India activities after the execution of Ajmal Kasab and Guru.
Amid the chanting of slogans, media reports said, top leaders of the LeT, JeM, Al-Badr Mujahideen, Jamiatul-Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen made anti-India speeches. United Jihad Council chief Syed Salahuddin, who also heads the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, asked all group members to step up attacks against India, while senior JeM leader Mufti Asghar reportedly said that “we know how to take revenge and we will take revenge.”
The MHA sources said they were trying to find out whether any sleeper module was activated after this meeting to carry out attacks.
A general alert was sent to all the States after the hanging of Kasab, but after the execution of Guru, more specific alerts were sent to the five cities and the two States.
Besides a general advisory sent to all the States on February 19, the specific information was shared with the five cities and two States on February 21.
Though the alerts were not definitive and did not specify the groups involved or possible targets, the police chiefs of these cities were asked to step up vigil. Similarly, other advisories talked about the LeT, JeM, Hizb and the Indian Mujahideen planning to launch terror attacks.
Keywords: Hyderabad twin blast, Dilsukhnagar blast, Sushilkumar Shinde, Indian Mujahideen, Central intelligence agencies alerts
Common Man's Life is at jeopardy .
For leaders the common man is just a playtoy.they are concern about their positions n their safety at large - visiting the victims, providing ex-gratia,employment to their near n dear ones... by this they are creating a sympathy.
This is not merely an answer.
Why the alerts were not highlighted to the common man.
there seems to be, govt. is failing to use technology efficiently, and
anti-state personals are out smarting our security agencies.
also, while everything is getting younger in india, unfortunately the
decision maker are all of older generation, who should be worked as
only adviser.
lastly, will humbly appeal to people not to get over emotional,whether
at someone's hanging or reading a family latter or at now.
When common people are dying without adequate safety provided to them by the system, the ministers/politicians have no moral right and instead should be ashamed of to have foolproof safety for themselves costing hugely to the public exchequer. They should say no to their personal safety and be ready to sacrifice their lives without the safety, to express solidarity with the common people. When they are helpless to protect lives of the common man, then that helplessness should reflect in the loss of lives of people from the ruling lot too who, in fact, are public servants constitutionally.
This is atrocious. The Indian government perception of terrorism looks very light. When the banned anti-Indian groups pledged of taking revenge against India, there was a clear signal of this upcoming brutality. It seems like the Indian investigators need a very strong (empirically tested) reason to avoid a terrorist attack.
And those Indians, who sympathized with Afzal Guru's religious letter to his family, must be experiencing a deep shock for having misplaced the sympathy.
It is heart breaking to see so much suffering.So long as we allow politicians to divide us on race,religion,caste,colour more violence happens.WE MUST WAKE UP. ALL politicians are guilty of negligence whenever they are in power.They enjoy old Maharajah privileges.They actually hate common people.This disease is NOT peculiar to India.We observe the same disease even in Australia.For photos and before elections,they mix with common people.But once that is over,they love and fall for upper class life without paying for it.
one more attestation of corrupt indian politicians.Without any support from influencial persons in the main stream, these type of acts cannot be executed. All cities in India are not safe to live in. Alerting govt is not a solution when the public is in danger. There should be awareness in public b'coz they (innocent public) are the real victims. Announcing ex-gratia and making useless statments after such incidents will not bring back those lives.
i would be the happiest person if the real culprits are caught and not innocents who will be framed by police and charged just to show that they have solved the case.
those found guilty should not be tried in court for years and waste our money and time. they should be hanged within 1 month.
i applaud the people of hyderabad who kept their cool and not involved in communal clashes thus failing the missions of the terrorists and politicians.
Nevertheless this is a city specific alert. You can step up patrolling
and intensify human intelligence. However there are hundreds of places
in these cities where explosive devices can be placed without being
detected.
Pictures of incompetent home minister with z-plus security and pictures
of helpless victim families are deeply contrasting(disturbing). These
pictures two tell the whole story of terror in India. Middle class is
left to themselves and political class well protected, well done worlds
largest democracy. Not to the people, Not for the people, Not By the
people all by and for politicians!!!
Looking at the reports in the HIndu, it is concerning that the police
are refraining from even naming or acting on suspects in the pretext of
communal issues. I see really a crisis brewing in leadership and
inaction bordering on carelessness to arrogance on every political class
and babudom. This will lead to anarchy if the rule of law cannot be
upheld and could lead to disintegration.
This photo speaks volumes about the unity in diversity in India. Ordinary Indians do not care
about religious divides and narrow differences, it is the politicians who try to spread hatreds
to satisfy their own power hunger and evil designs. We have seen examples of such
politicians recently from an MLA in Andhra Pradesh.
Shame on you officials? Why do not you alert the public and tell them
about it? They can be alert and possibly they can find the bombs and
give you alerts? It is a shame India is still in 19th century and
dealing with threats.
The Stae Gvt authorities starting from the CM are guilty of gross neglgence for which the victims must sue them in court.
The very sorry state of affairs in our organisations entrusted in developing surveillance equipments and software to identify people undertaking suspicious activities will result in continuity of such incidents.Advanced countries like USA will never share such technology while terrorists do not have such issues.They are more internationalised in their training, getting finance etc.
What I have mentioned is one of the aspects.I request the esteemed paper to initiate further investigation of this issue from technology point of view.
If there was enough information to provide the alerts, why were the terrorists not taken out pre-emptively? Let us learn from the Mossad how to protect our own people.
This is one of the unending & most unwanted ugly incidents surface periodically in India to remind us, the people that the system and democracy are very flimsy. After repeated incidents does the police intelligence have any solutions for to curb such a menace? A lot of thinking & research need to be done. These incidents are happening in thickly populated public places only where all people should be thoroughly screened, their vehicles of all sorts closely watched and monitored. This needs addl. manpower utility & effort. There is no chance for complacency at all. Let there be no more incident of this sort in future. We must succeed & nothing else is valid.
Please Email the Editor