Police investigate Assam connection in Hyderabad blasts

Guwahati, Aug 28 (UNI) Investigators today found a trail of the twin Hyderabad blasts in Assam with the arrest of Assamese native Mohhamad Abdullah.

Official sources in Hyderabad said the arrest strengthened the apprehension that Assam was gradually becoming a transit corridor for the jehadi elements.

Mohammad Abdullah was arrested from the Bowenpalli neighbourhood in Secunderabad and being questioned 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 to know the roots of these elements, '' he said.

The needle of suspicion was strongly blowing towards the Al Qaida'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'' for 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 movement and links were being ascertained.

However, official 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 focussing on Assam as the transit route from the neighbouring country to execute subversive attacks in the country.

In a related incident, three Bangaldeshis en route to Ajmer-e-sharif in Rajasthan from Bangladesh were arrested in Sonapur near Guwahati.

They said the accused had entered Assam through Karimganj district in Assam bordering Bangaldesh.

Police said the credentials of the trio were being probed. They said Bangladeshi currencies were found from their possession.

'' It cannot be immediately said whether the people had any links with terrorist elements, '' a police official said.

The persons hade been identified as Abdul Nur, Naib Ali and Ilias Mian.

The narrow 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 from Assam.

The Border Security Force manning the Bangladesh border had gone on record stating that the madrassas along the international border areas were turning to be the 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 had been in touch with the Madrassa and Mosque committees to avert any possible terror strike. The committees had been alerted to monitor the movement of the 'suspected elements'.

UNI