Police release sketches of 2 suspects

MALEGAON: Working on some ’concrete clues’, the police has released sketches of two suspects in the bomb attacks here and said high intensity explosives, possibly RDX, were used in the blasts. Police zeroed in on two shops where the attackers allegedly bought bicycles that were used to plant the bombs at the Bada Kabrastan (cemetery) and Mushaira Chowk that killed 31 people and injured nearly 300 on Friday.

Information provided by the shop-owners and other witnesses was used to prepare drawings of the men who bought the bicycles, said IGP (inspector general of police), Nashik, PK Jain on Sunday.

“There is no clarity on the kind of explosives used in Friday’s blasts and we are still awaiting the forensic report, but from the injuries sustained, where splinters have entered the bodies of the victims, we can deduce that high intensity explosives were used,” Mr Jain told reporters.

A highly placed police official in Mumbai said the explosive devices in Malegaon possibly contained RDX and were ‘identical’ to bombs used in the blasts on trains in the metropolis on 7/11.

“The devices used in the two attacks are quite identical, and in the Malegaon blasts, the use of RDX is becoming evident,” the police official supervising the probe said. Mr Jain said police were also working on ’two to three concrete clues’ they had uncovered, without giving details.

One of the two cycle shop owners, who were being questioned by the police in connection with Friday’s bomb blasts here, has been detained for further interrogation, police sources said here. Two bicycles were found lying near the site of the blasts, which made police to suspect that the explosives could have been planted or transported there with the cycles, sources said.

Mr Jain said investigators are looking at ’various angles’, including links to the 7/11 bombings, an incident in Nanded in April when two Bajrang Dal activists were killed, while allegedly trying to make a bomb, and possible international connections. A team of 20 officers, including specialists from the National Security Guard, were working on the case. Some of them had been sent to other places, he said without disclosing details.

Forensic tests have prompted investigators to probe the possibility that the perpetrators of the attacks in Malegaon and Mumbai were the same persons or belonged to the same terrorist group, sources said. Mr Jain dismissed reports that police had found two live bombs in the cemetery.

Though some boxes were found after the blasts, they contained nothing suspicious, he said. There are two aspects to the case — the interrogation of suspects and investigations where any person who can help in the case, he said. Mr Jain also appealed to the public to ’maintain peace and unity’ so that police could focus on their investigation instead of using forces to maintain law and order.

Meanwhile, The US has expressed outrage over the “brutal terrorist bombings”, saying that there can be no justification for such heinous acts. “We are saddened by the brutal terrorist bombings that killed innocent civilians outside a mosque in malegaon... There can be no justification for such heinous acts,” US state department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.

“We offer our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed in the attack and wish for a speedy recovery for those injured,” he said. Mr McCormack said the US is not only fully supportive of the government of India but also considered itself as a “full partner” with New Delhi in the fight against terror. Pakistan also has condemned the multiple blasts in and ex-pressed the hope that the Indian government would bring the culprits to book.