AHMEDABAD BLASTS | DEATH TOLL RISES TO 39
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Ahmedabad blast threat e-mail traced to Mumbai
Published on Sun, Jul 27, 2008 at 08:09, Updated on Sun, Jul 27, 2008 at 12:28 in India section
Tags: Ahmedabad Blasts, Terror Attack , New Delhi
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New Delhi: Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) early on Monday raided two flats in Mumbai after the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the sender of the threat e-mail warning about Ahmedabad blasts was traced to it.
The sender was tracked to flat numbers 1503 and 1504, Gunina Apartments in Sanpara near Navi Mumbai. The flats are registered to someone named Abhishek, but rented to two foreign nationals who work for a multinational company. The flat was rented out about five months ago.
Mumbai ATS has seized the hard disk but no arrests have been made so far. The entry and exit to the building has been sealed. The squad has not been able to contact the flat owner so far.
Mumbai Police and ATS are investigating another e-mail, which was sent out to all the Muslim Bollywood actors asking them to stop their work.
Central agencies, too, are in the process of tracing the IP address of all the e-mails that have been generated following the serial bombings.
On Sunday, minutes before the explosions, the Gujarat Police received an e-mail threat from a terrorist organization called the Indian Mujahideen. The group had claimed responsibility for the Jaipur blasts earlier this year. However, the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (HuJi) has also claimed responsibility for the Ahmedabad blasts.
Meanwhile, intelligence agencies suspect that Indian Mujahideen is a cover for other outfits
All the 17 blasts occurred in a short span of 70 minutes killing 39 and injuring at least 105. Most of the blasts took place in the crowded and congested areas of Gujarat’s commercial capital.
The first bomb went off at 1830 hrs IST at Narola circle, which is in Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency.
“We were standing at a tea stall at 6:30 pm, when we saw a bag and a bicycle,” Balkrishna Bhatt, an eyewitness, said.
The rest of the blasts took place within a radius of 10 km of the first blast. Some of the blasts took place in communally sensitive areas of the city.
Four of the blasts took place inside hospital, ostensibly intending to derail rescue and relief operations.
“There was a blue bag near the hospital. Our people saw it. The bag exploded right before our eyes. We shifted the seriously injured to the Civil Hospital. About seven died,” says Dr Ramanuj, Danwantri Hospital.
The Central Government has rushed a team of National Security Guard commandos and bomb squads to Gujarat and promised more forces if needed. It has announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the families of the dead and Rs 50,000 to those injured.
Meanwhile, forensic experts are trying to determine the difference between the quantity and the material used in the blasts between the civil lines hospital blast and other area blasts.
Ahmedabad and Bangalore blast similarities
The serial blasts in Ahmedabad happened barely 24 hours after India’s IT hub Bangalore was hit by a string of similar low-intensity blasts. In both the cities, the explosives were placed on bicycles, inside bags and in tiffin boxes.
“The blasts seem to be along the lines of Friday’s Bangalore blasts. It is a conspiracy to unsettle the country. All metros are on a high alert,’ Minister of State (Home) Sriprakash Jaiswal said.
(Mumbai inputs from Toral Varia)
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