Jehadi propaganda drew me to terrorism: Varanasi blast accused

Lucknow, Apr 5: The leader of the ISI module who had allegedly helped Bangladeshi terrorists plant bombs in Varanasi, today claimed that ''jehadi propaganda'' on Gujarat riots and Ayodhya demolition drew him towards terrorism.

Waliullah, whom the Special Task Force (STF) of the UP police arrested this morning as a prime accused in the March seven Varanasi twin blasts, said he was drawn towards terrorism after being exposed to ''jehadi propaganda'' consisting of literature and footage on Gujarat riots and Ayodhya demolition.

Apart from Waliullah -- the ISI module chief who was arrested in the state capital this morning -- others arrested include Mahbook Ali, Syed Suhiab Hasan, Mohd Rizwan Siddique, Farhan and Mohd Saad.

Except for Waliullah (32), a resident of Phoolpur (Allahabad), the others are in their 20s.

Mahbook is a resident of 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, while Suhiab and Farhan belong to Lucknow. Rizwan and Saad hail from Jyotiba Phule Nagar district of UP.

Altogether six kg RDX, three kg plastic explosives (PETN), 15 hand grenedes, an AK 47 assault rifle, a 0.32 bore pistol and 10 detonators were recovered from them.

In a brief interaction with the media at the STF office here, Waliullah said all six of the terrorists had undergone rigourous arms training for 28 days in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The three Bangladeshis -- who had triggered the IED blasts at Varanasi on March seven -- had studied with Waliullah at Deoband and he supplied the explosives to them for the blast.

Waliullah, alongwith his two brothers, were also arrested during 2001 for anti-social activities.

According to the arrested terrorists, Bashir of Harkat-ul-jehad-al Islami (HUJI) took Waliullah to Bangladesh and after a preliminary training there, he was sent to Pakistan.

Later, after returning to India, Waliullah sent 10 boys in their early 20s in batches to Pakistan via Bangladesh for arms training.

UNI