The terrorists wanted to carry out a series of attacks in Delhi on the lines of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, sources have told NDTV, two days after a blast left nine dead near the Red Fort. On the target were top landmarks in the heart of the national capital, including Red Fort, India Gate, Constitution Club, and the Gauri Shankar Temple, an investigation into the Monday evening blast has revealed, besides action being planned at the railway stations and shopping malls across the country.
The conspiracy had been underway since January. The terror module, likely linked to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, had been planning the attack for months, the sources said. The group had been preparing 200 powerful Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), or bombs in simpler terms, to target high-profile areas not only in Delhi but also in Gurugram and Faridabad.
The terrorists were conspiring to incite communal tensions by targeting religious sites, the sources said, adding that some radicalised doctors from Pulwama, Shopian, and Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir were chosen for the job because of their “white collar” cover. They soon had established their base in Faridabad.
Being doctors, they could easily move around NCR without raising suspicion. They then rented rooms in the Dhauj and Fatehpur Taga areas to store the explosives where their activities would go unsuspecting.
Among the suspects in custody are three doctors: Sheen Saeed, Muzammil Shakeel Ganale, and Adeel Rather. Dr Umar Nabi is believed to be the suicide bomber who died in the blast on November 10. Three other doctors, who worked alongside Dr Saeed at the Al-Falah University in Faridabad, were also detained but are likely to be released.
The November 10 blast occurred in a Hyundai i20 car in slow-moving traffic during the evening rush hours near the Red Fort Metro Station, CCTV footage showed this morning. At least nine people died, and nearly two dozen others were injured in the high-intensity blast.