Jama Masjid blast was to avenge Batla encounter

The September 19, 2010 Jama Masjid attack was carried out to avenge the Batla House encounter that had occurred on the same day two years earlier, suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives have told the police.

The September 19, 2010 Jama Masjid attack was carried out to avenge the Batla House encounter that had occurred on the same day two years earlier, suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives have told the police.

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According to sources, four men - Shahrukh, Mohammad Qateel Siddiqui, Mohammad Adil and an IM operative whose name the police refused to divulge - had planned the attack in a rented accommodation in east Delhi.

"The gang had moved into the house in the trans-Yamuna area as early as July 2010," said a senior Delhi Police officer.

A small quantity of ammonium nitrate and shrapnel in the form of nails and ball bearings attached to an 'alarm clock timer' had been easily procured by the accused to assemble an IED. The IED, kept in a pressure cooker, was placed under a stolen Maruti 800 parked adjacent to a transformer near the Jama Masjid police station.

Two Taiwanese tourists were injured in the shootout outside Jama Masjid. Minutes later, there was an explosion in the Maruti car.

"The east Delhi hideout was abandoned for a similar one in west Delhi's Nangloi immediately after the attack. The idea was to hurt the country's reputation weeks before the CWG," the officer said.

Hours after their arrest was announced on Wednesday, the Delhi Police raided the gang's west Delhi hideout-a single room arms factory in Nangloi-and seized dozens of half-assembled weapons and chemicals.

Sources said they would conduct similar raids at locations in Sarita Vihar on Thursday.