Hyderabad blasts: Police investigating Assam connection

Guwahati, Aug 28 (UNI) Investigators have found a trail of the twin Hyderabad blasts in Assam as they picked up an Assamese native Mohammad Abdullah today in this connection amidst apprehension that 'jehadi' elements were using the state as a transit corridor.

According to official reports from Hyderabad, Mohammad Abdullah was today arrested by police there in connection with the attacks from the Bowenpalli neighbourhood in Secunderabad and were questioning him whether he had any links with the worst ever terror attacks in the Andhra capital.

Assam DGP R N Mathur, however, expressed ignorance. ''Hopefully they will contact us soon and we are very keen on knowing the roots of these elements,'' he said.

The needle of suspicion was strongly pointing towards al Qaeda's Bangladesh affiliate Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami (HUJI) even as the Union Home Ministry had listed several cities of the country, including Kolkata, Guwahati, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai as ''sensitive'' with regards to possible jehadi attacks.

A resident of Nagaon district here, Abdullah was among the four people detained in connection with the terror strikes in Hyderabad.

His movements and links were being ascertained.

However, reports from Hyderabad said a team of the Andhra Pradesh police was likely to arrive in Assam to get leads into the attacks, which had claimed more than 42 lives.

Intelligence sources here indicated that 'jehadi' outfits, including the HUJI, operating from Bangladesh territory, were focusing on Assam as the transit route from the neighbouring country to execute subversive attacks in this country.

The sleek passages in the Hailakandi, Karimganj and Dhubri districts of the state and the unfenced sector of the border had fomented the movement of the jehadi elements to and fro Assam.

The Border Security Force manning the Bangladesh border had gone on record stating that the madrassas along the international border areas were turning out as hotbeds of fundamentalist terror.

There were also reports that the al Qaeda was influencing the ULFA to form a new front in Assam and the North East to carry out the strikes.

Meanwhile, police here were communicating with the Madrassa and Mosque committees to avert any possible terror strike. The committees had been alerted to monitor the movement of suspected elements.

UNI