Recent terror strikes blot on government: Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: Terming the two recent blasts in Mumbai and Delhi as a "blot" on government's record, Home Minister P Chidambaram today said many homegrown modules are active across the country and several of them have acquired the capacity to make bombs.

"There are Indian modules too. They seem to have the capacity to attract radicalised youth to their fold... Many of these modules have acquired the capacity to make bombs," Chidambaram said addressing country's top police brass here.

The Home Minister said some of these modules are loosely knit under an organisation called Indian Mujahideen (IM) and many old cadres of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) have transformed themselves into IM cadres.

"There are other Indian modules that espouse the cause of right-wing religious fundamentalism or separatism," he said while inaugurating the three-day annual conference of DGPs and IGPs organised by Intelligence Bureau.

While referring to the July 13 Mumbai and September 7 Delhi blasts, Chidambaram said "two terrorist attacks in the space of two months are indeed blots on our record".

"Naturally, the central government and the security forces have been severely criticised. While we accept the responsibility for the incidents and the legitimate criticism, it is our duty to set out the context in which such terrorist attacks take place," he said.

The Home Minister said no country in the world, including the United States, appears to be entirely immune to the threat of terror. The worst-affected were Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said.

"The epicentre of terror is Afghanistan-Pakistan (region). Four out of five major terrorist groups are based in Pakistan and three of them - LeT, JeM and HM- continue to target India," Chidambaram said.