BOMBAY, 14 July 2006 — Police and security agencies launched a massive all-out manhunt and detained hundreds of people while naming two men as the first suspects in the train bombings.
Police also prepared sketches of four suspects as part of their investigation in an apparent breakthrough in the frenetic investigations into the well-coordinated attacks that killed at least 200 people and wounded over 700.
The government’s Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) released photos of two young, lightly bearded men, identified as Sayyad Zabiuddin and Zulfeqar Fayyaz. The names indicated they were Muslims, but the government did not make that clear.
Their nationalities weren’t provided, nor was it clear where the photos — headshots which appeared to have been taken from identification documents — originated. No further details were provided.
But officials said earlier yesterday that the prime suspect in Tuesday’s bombings is Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group that operates in Kashmir.
“Different indicators are there which hint at their involvement,” said D.K. Shankaran, the top bureaucrat in Maharashtra state, of which Bombay is the capital. He refused to elaborate. “The probe into blasts is on track and we should have something substantial soon,” he said.
Lashkar has been alleged in the past to have employed near-simultaneous explosions to hit Indian cities, including an attack in New Delhi in October that killed more than 60 people. Lashkar was also named in an audacious attack on India’s Parliament in 2001.
A spokesman for Lashkar, Abdullah Ghaznavi, has denied the group was involved in the bombings.
Police said over 400 people were detained during widespread search operations in the city, including hotels and guest houses, since Wednesday night. Between 40 to 50 suspects were being questioned by teams from the ATS and local police who were trying to build on the leads they gathered on Wednesday to track down the bombers.
The ATS also questioned activists of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) who were suspected to have executed the blasts with the help of Lashkar.
Yesterday, the government issued a statement after a Cabinet meeting, saying it is committed to combating terrorism. “Nothing will deter us from our firm policy to fight this menace till it is wiped out,” said a Cabinet statement.
Meanwhile, drivers and security guards from the trains hit by bombs told reporters yesterday about their little-noticed efforts on the day of the tragedy to carry the injured to hospitals and pulling mangled bodies from twisted metal.
Driver Anjani Kumar said he slammed on his train’s brakes when he heard a loud noise soon after he had pulled out of Khar station.
Drenched in rain and working in fading evening light after the explosions, Kumar said he managed to pull scores of injured people from the mangled wreckage of the train.
— With input from agencies
