Andhra, Mah, Raj police teams grill HuJI terrorists in UP

Lucknow, Dec 26 (UNI) Police teams from Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra today grilled the two Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI) terrorists arrested in Uttar Pradesh last week in connection with the blasts which had ripped through various districts of their states in the recent past.

Sources in the state police today confirmed that a team from Maharashtra's Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), another team from Hyderabad police and yet another police team from Rajasthan were in the state capital to grill HuJI terrorists held from Barabanki railway station on Saturday last.

A team of Gujarat police was expected shortly. ''They would be here soon to join the interrogation,'' said a senior police officer.

The two terrorists had reportedly admitted to their role in the May, 2007 Gorakhpur blasts and the serial blasts of November 23 which rocked the civil court premises in Faizabad, Varanasi and Lucknow, killing 13 and maiming 70 others.

The police teams of the states are here to find a link between UP blasts and similar incidents which had taken place in Malegaon (Maharashtra), Ajmer (Rajasthan) and Andhra capital Hyderabad.

Those arrested included Dr Tariq, a practicing Unani doctor and Khalid Mujahid, a madrasa teacher. Tariq was the 'intizamia' (logistics) wing head of HuJI in UP.

On Monday, Additional Director General of Police (Crime/Law and Order/STF) Brij Lal had confirmed that the table alarm clock and the battery used in Hyderabad's Gokul Chat blast and the Faizabad civil court blast were of similar brand.

The newly-set up Anti-Terrorist Squad of the state police was in touch with the Hyderabad police to track down the similarities in the blasts which rocked Hyderabad on August 25 and the civil courts in Faizabad, Varanasi and Lucknow on November 23.

''The inputs provided by the Hyderabad police suggest that terrorists had used 'Prince' brand analogue table alarm clock and 'HW' brand 12 volts battery to trigger the blasts at Gokul Chat in Sultan Bazaar area of Hyderabad and the Faizabad cycle blast,'' he said. Hyderabad Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh had talked to his counterparts in UP yesterday on the issue.

The ADG claimed that while the timer device used in the Varanasi civil court blast was damaged, the bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) could not take down details of an unexploded bomb found in Lucknow civil court premises and later detonated in contained environment. ''The timer device was damaged when the bomb was detonated in a secluded spot...the type of timer device in the other bomb which ripped through the Lucknow court earlier could also not be ascertained either,'' he said.

The bombs were apparently triggered using the alarm mechanism of the table clocks, he added.

A cocktail of RDX, charcoal and niterates mixed with oil-based emuslsion to prevent seepage of water were used in the UP cycle blasts, the terrorists had used 'neogil 90' and other chemicals to set off blasts in the Andhra capital.

UNI