New Delhi: The explosive material used by terrorists to trigger coordinated serial bomb blasts in Pune was ammonium nitrate, according to a preliminary forensic examination.
Official sources privy to the investigations said on Thursday night that ammonium nitrate, which has been often used by banned terrorist outfits like Indian Mujahideen, was packed inside a steel box.
Sources said a timer was also attached to the steel box and a combination of Neogel, generally used in stone quarries, and ammonium nitrate oil was used as the binding force for the Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
Four low intensity explosions rocked Pune on Thursday night while one was partially detonated and another one was found live and later defused.
Earlier, reports said that wrist watches were used to trigger the explosives in the Pune coordinated serial blasts as evidence gathered by investigators on Thursday appeared to point to the involvement of banned home grown terror group Indian Mujahideen (IM).
Government sources in New Delhi said that IM is one of the prime suspects.
The Improved Explosive Devices (IEDs) used in the four low intensity blasts on Wednesday night were designed in a special manner which needed a serious probe, they said.
Official sources said the manner in which locally made watches were used as a timer to complete the bomb circuit to trigger battery-operated detonators kept on three newly-bought bicycles, two dustbins and a polythene bag was similar to the technique adopted by IM, which has links with terror groups in Pakistan.
Joint Commissioner of Pune City Police Sanjiv Singhal said 33-year-old Dayanand Patil, the lone person injured in the blast near Bal Gandharva theatre, was being 'interrogated'. He also said there has been no arrest or detention so far.
Patil's wife Satyakala and some bicycle shop owners in the city's Kasaba peth area were also questioned as part of the investigation. Police said Patil was not being treated as a suspect as of now but was being questioned by police as to how the explosives found its way into his carry bag.
Official sources said investigators found Patil's certain activities suspicious and decided to interrogate him properly and have a thorough background check of him.
On possible Naxal links Union Home Secretary R K Singh said, "We don't have any basis to say the possibility of Maoists involvement."
As investigators pieced together evidence, the sources said ammonium nitrate was apparently used to make the explosives with Neogel as a binding agent.
"A box like object was used to plant the bombs which were triggered with detonators, 9 volt battery cells and timer," Singhal said, adding that a white substance too had been found and sent to forensic labs for investigations and reports were awaited.
The explosions in the space of less than one hour in a one-km radius rocked the crowded Jangli Maharaj (JM) road.
Comments
0 comment