Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) tried to execute a major terror operation in UP on Thursday, 18 years after the twin blasts in Arya Nagar that left 80 people injured on August 14, 2000.
The operation in 2000 was part of a coordinated attack in UP. On the same night (August 14, 2000), a bomb went off on board the Sabarmati Express near Roshan Mau station in Faizabad. Many were killed and injured in the incident.
On August 15, few people were injured in a blast in the canteen of UP Vidhan Sabha.
On August 8, an operative of Hizb mishandled an RDX bomb that went off killing all the four module members in Agra. The explosive was meant for detonation during the I-Day parade in Agra Cantonment. This was revealed by one of the handlers after his arrest.
Working jointly with the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) back then, Hizbul had drawn many operatives from SIMI for its non-Kashmir operations. The attacks executed at multiple locations were the first of its kind.
The terror group (HM) was the first to have used ammonium nitrate (instead of RDX) in Kanpur and Lucknow. No where before that the terror group had used fertilisers as explosive packed in pressure cookers and detonated through a remote controlled device.
{{/usCountry}}The terror group (HM) was the first to have used ammonium nitrate (instead of RDX) in Kanpur and Lucknow. No where before that the terror group had used fertilisers as explosive packed in pressure cookers and detonated through a remote controlled device.
{{/usCountry}}Sources said HM had laid the groundwork for major operations in UP between 1997 and 2001. The Indian Mujahideen whose Mahmood Ghaznavi brigade was responsible for many blasts in UP stuck to ammonium nitrate.
However, HM shrunk its activities after SIMI cadres were arrested across the India and the outfit was banned by the then NDA government. Those behind the IM followed the Hizb’s groundwork and logistics, which they used to further operations.
“The Hizbul apparently never lost sight of UP, particularly Kanpur where it had taken roots with the help of SIMI,” said a senior official.
“That is why many times the surveillance intercepted conversations about attacks on defence establishments and IIT-Kanpur,” said the official.