Bomb planters poorly trained: Intelligence

Terror suspects, who orchestrated the serial blasts in Mumbai on Wednesday evening, bungled in planting two of the three Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), thus restricting the number of casualties, according to Maharashtra police and central intelligence agencies.

Terror suspects, who orchestrated the serial blasts in Mumbai on Wednesday evening, bungled in planting two of the three Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), thus restricting the number of casualties, according to Maharashtra police and central intelligence agencies.

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A counter-terror official, who is part of the probe, told HT: "The IEDs were probably sophisticated, but the planters were either poorly trained or they acted in haste."

Investigators suspect that the Indian Mujahideen, which has links with banned outfits like the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and the Students Islamic Movement of India, executed the terror attack.

The three IEDs were planted at Mumbai’s busiest hubs – Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar – during rush hour.

"The sites were chosen with the aim of killing maximum, with minimum chance of getting nabbed, a standard modus operandi of the Indian Mujahideen," said the official.

However, the bombs charges at two of the three attack sites – Kabootarkhana in Dadar and Opera House – were placed in a way that decreased their impact. A bomb's charge determines the direction of impact.

Investigators are yet to find any conclusive proof that suicide bombers were used in the attack.

"An aluminium wire was found embedded in one of the victims, while another victim's head was separated from the torso. It's unlikely the wire was part of the bomb. In the second case, had the person been a suicide bomber, the body would have been more damaged," said another official.