New Delhi: HuJI or Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami has emerged as the prime suspect for Thursday's blast at the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Mohiuddin Chisti in Ajmer.
As investigations progressed, the security agencies have laid their hands on many clues that point to the involvement of HuJI militant Shahid Bilal in the attack that left two persons dead and 28 injured. Bilal is believed to be currently based in Karachi.
The investigators point out that the modus operandi of the attack in Ajmer was similar to that used in the Mecca Masjid blast at Hyderabad in May this year.
Pieces of iron pipe were used by the attackers as splinters that pierced through the pilgrims who had gathered near the 'Begum-Ki-Dhalan' for breaking their Ramzan fast. The militants used a mixture of Tri-Nitro Toluene in the blast.
Security officials told PTI that they did not rule out the possibility that the banned HuJI may have been supported by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in the attack, as the latter has been vociferous in its opposition to Sufi strain of Islam.
Sleuths of central security agencies and forensic experts, who combed the shrine complex on Friday, found a bag in which another crude bomb had been kept.
Security experts at the spot said the second explosive device was possibly to go off after the first explosion in order to trigger a stampede-like situation. The unexploded device was to be detonated with an alarm of the mobile phone, but it failed to work thus saving many lives.
The Ajmer attack came just weeks after an alert issued by the Central intelligence agencies, which said HuJI may be targeting some places of importance and that militants of the outfit were already roaming cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore. Even Mumbai and Kerala had been put on high alert. The alert was based on several telephone intercepts over a period of time.
Only last week, the Union Home Minister had alerted the state DGPs of possible terror attacks in any part of the country during the festival season.
The Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, which is apparently inspired by Osama bin Laden, turned its foot soldiers on India since the past three years. It was Osama bin Laden who had set up the Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami or HuJI in his war against the Soviets in Afghanistan drawing Muslim fighters from all over the world.
Today, HuJI-B is headed by the Shawkat Osman and his number two Imtiaz Quddus. Shauqat Osman is known to have links with bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri. With a cadre strength of around 15,000, HuJI's goal is to establish an Islamic state in Bangladesh. Their camps in Bangladesh are in the Chittagong hills, bordering Myanmar.
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