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Mecca masjid blast in Hyderabad : Pak link suspected

	May 21, 2007

Intelligence agencies are reportedly of the view that terrorist elements having links with outfits based in Pakistan and Bangladesh may be responsible for Friday’s bomb blast at the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad in which 16 persons were killed, including five in the police firing to control the rioting mob angered by the explosion. The SIM card as well as the cell phone recovered from an improvised explosive device (IED), which did not explode and was defused by the security forces later, are being examined to establish the trail to the jehadi network which is believed to have masterminded the incident. The bomb that went off was triggered from a mobile phone.



Central intelligence agencies think that the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and the Harkat-ul-Jehad-Islami (HuJI) are the prime suspects. The Jaish is based in Pakistan-controlled territory while HuJI operates out of Bangladesh. HuJI has close links with the JeM as well as another Pakistan-based terrorist outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). HuJI’s involvement is being suspected as the outfit’s top leader, Shahid Bilal, hails from Hyderabad and has been carrying out terrorist strikes for the JeM and LeT since 2004.



Reports say that India had passed on Shahid Bilal’s name to Pakistan at the first meeting of the Joint anti-Terror Mechanism on March 6 this year. New Delhi had given details indicating that Bilal was in Karachi and had demanded that he be handed over to India for further investigations. The suspicion of Shahid Bilal’s involvement has gained force after the Hyderabad police traced the SIM card of the mobile phone found in the unexploded devices to West Bengal. There are reported to be indications that the Bilal group of the HuJI was involved in obtaining this SIM card.



Bilal is reported to be in Karachi for the last few months. From Hyderabad he had first moved to Bangladesh, then Saudi Arabia and when it became difficult to operate from there, to Karachi. He has reportedly close links with Rasool Khan wanted in the killing of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya.



Shahid Bilal is also wanted in the 2005 attack on the special task force headquarters in Hyderabad. HuJI also had a central role in the Varanasi serial blasts in which the famous Sankat Mochan Temple was targeted. Walilullah, Pesh Imam of Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh, picked up by the UP special task force investigating the Varanasi blasts, is said to have helped the HuJI militants, who had been trained in Pakistan, with logistics after they crossed over from Bangladesh for the Varanasi terror attack.



The authorities also point out that just as in the case of the attack on the Sankat Mochan Temple in Varanasi, the motive in the May 18 blast at the Mecca masjid in Hyderabad was to drive a wedge between Hindus and Muslims and trigger riots. Shahid Bilal’s name also came up during investigations into the recent Samjhauta train blasts.





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HuJI founded on Osama’s instructions



HuJI is a prime suspect in the foiled terrorist bid on the RSS Headquarters in Nagpur. The Bangladesh-based group, formed in 1992, on instructions from none other than Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, enjoys close links with both LeT and Jaish and often recruits Indian youth with the help of its operatives and sends them for training in Pakistan. Once trained, the outfit pushes these youth back into India from the Bangladesh border to carry out terrorist attacks in the hinterland.



The sophisticated nature of the cell phone activated IED - that used RDX and TNT as explosives - establishes the hand of an organised terrorist outfit like the LeT, Jaish or HuJI, though the supporting role of SIMI or Deendar Anjuman cannot be ruled out. Cell phone bombs have earlier been used in Kashmir, with Jehadi outfits increasingly relying on this technology to activate IEDs from a distance.



The Hyderabad police are busy working on these clues as part of the investigation. It is only after the preliminary findings of the investigation are in that the State Government is likely to take a call on whether or not to refer the Mecca masjid blast case to the CBI. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S.R. Reddy on May 19 said his government was not averse to a CBI probe, even as Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil who visited the blast site in Hyderabad, stressed that the central investigating agency was already burdened with too many cases.



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Protests against police firing



Bandhs, rallies and processions were organised by Muslims across Andhra Pradesh to protest against the police firing following the bomb blast at Mecca masjid. There was stone-throwing in the old city of Hyderabad on May 19 as the body of a person killed in the Friday incident was being taken in a procession for burial.



An emergency meeting of the state cabinet complimented the people on maintaining peace and calm. The Chief Minister told reporters there was no intelligence failure as alleged by the opposition Telugu Desam Party.



Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil during his visit to Hyderabad said the Centre and the State government had advance knowledge of the designs of terrorists. What the government did not know were the time and place where the terrorists would strike. The terrorists chose their time and place and got away after the attack. This was worrying, Shivraj Patil said.



Addressing a news conference, Shivraj Patil and Chief Minister Y.S.R. Reddy said there was no merit in handing over the inquiry to the CBI at this stage. They said the option could be explored after the preliminary probe was over. Patil said, “We will agree to a CBI probe if the State Government so desires.” The Union Home Minister said the terrorists targeted temples, churches and mosques to create strife.





Blast during prayers



While 11 people died in the powerful bomb blast, another five lost their lives in the police firing to disperse the crowds.



Reports say, it was just another Friday and people as well as the police were relaxed. Over 10,000 people were offering prayers at the 400-year-old Mecca Masjid at 1.15 p.m. when the bomb went off.



The device, in which RDX was used, was triggered with a cellular phone and the blast sent shockwaves throughout the city. Providentially, two more Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were found and defused by the police. Had these been detonated, destruction would have been colossal, as they were strategically placed near a spot where ablutions are performed.



The bomb went off underneath a thick marble platform (takht) and the 400-year-old stone sheet took the full impact of the blast. It took some moments for those offering prayers to realise that the deafening noise they heard was a bomb blast.



Soon ambulances began sorties ferrying the injured and the dead to hospitals. As angry youth rushed out of the mosque, sporadic violence erupted and mobs began pelting stones and damaging property.



The police in riot gear were engaged in pitched battles in the labyrinthine lanes and bylanes of the old city. The police fired shots in the air, lobbed teargas shells to disperse the crowds. Within the mosque, a crowd initially prevented the police from entering. Police then used water cannon to pave the way for the bomb disposal squad, which defused the other bombs.



Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy cut short his trip in Delhi and rushed to Hyderabad. As news of the blast spread, tension mounted all over the city and business establishments downed the shutters. With mobs targeting the city buses, the authorities suspended all services in the south of the city.



Two MIM legislators and the City Congress president who rushed to the mosque were roughed up. State Home Minister K. Jana Reddy and Ministers Mohd. Ali Shabbir and Mukesh Goud were gheraoed and not allowed into the mosque for quite some time.



State police chief M.A. Basith, who visited the mosque, described the marble platform as a God-sent ‘barrier’ as it saved many lives.



“There was this deafening sound at 1.15 p.m. and within minutes trouble erupted. A shop and a petrol bunk were targeted by rampaging mobs,” Mohd. Ismail, who was in front of the mosque, recalled. Ismail said he ran towards the Charminar police station, hardly a stone’s throw away.



As heavy contingents of para-military and city police moved in, the priority was to ensure that the Dhana Laxmi temple abutting Charminar was not vandalised. Fortunately, the anger against the blast did not take a communal turn and that probably saved the day for Hyderabad.





Nation-wide condemnation



The President and the Prime Minister and leaders of various political parties have condemned the blast at Mecca masjid in Hyderabad.



In a message to State Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the President said, “I am sure that the State Government is taking all steps to provide help to the injured and to the families of the deceased.” He also conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for early recovery of the injured.



In his statement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged all communities to maintain peace and communal harmony. He expressed his condolences to the relatives of the victims.



UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed her deep concern and grief, and her condolences to the bereaved families. She asked the Chief Minister to take immediate steps so that those responsible for the “senseless act” were brought to book.



The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the fact that the blast took place during Friday prayers “shows the diabolic intent of provoking communal violence.”



The Communist Party of India said the Government should probe those behind the incident, aimed at disrupting the peace and communal harmony.







Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party leader K. Yerran Naidu demanded that the Government take strict action against all those behind the blast.



Jamiat general secretary Mahmood A. Madani said the loss of lives showed that large-scale sabotage had taken place. While asking the Government to carry out its responsibility, he also appealed to all peace-loving citizens to maintain peace and tranquility.