Kolkata: A team from India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) is to visit Bangladesh soon, after a probe into the Burdwan blast in West Bengal, revealed links with the banned Bangladeshi militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JLM)
Sources said the two main suspects in the bombing, Shaikh Kausar and Yusuf, who are on the run, are reportedly Bangladeshi nationals and are believed to have fled India and are be hiding in that country.
After interrogating the people arrested over the Burdwan blast, the NIA concluded that at least 120 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were made and transported from Burdwan to Bangladesh in four batches, aimed at destabilising the political establishment in Dhaka.
“It is very important for India to ensure a through probe into this case, as Indian soil was used by the terror outfit to try and destabilise Bangladesh. This terror outfit is a cause of great concern to both the neighbouring countries, and considering these facts, it is necessary for the investigators to visit Bangladesh soon,” said an NIA officer.
New Delhi has already alerted Dhaka and has provided the Bangladesh government a dossier for preventive steps and necessary action needed to curb the group’s activities, authorities said.
“The security establishments of the two countries from now on have to work in close coordination, to ensure that such threats are decimated at the earliest,” the officer added.
India is also taking steps to ensure that the entire length of its international border with Bangladesh is fenced at the earliest,as part of measures to block militants from slipping into the country.
Sources said at least seven highly trained bomb makers had entered India illegally as early as 2011 to create sleeper cells in West Bengal, which were used as bomb making factories to attack Dhaka.
“The pipe bombs that had been made were not very sophisticated, but are certainly capable of creating havoc with a certain diameter if blasted,” said another official.
However, what has kept the security establishment in India on tenterhooks is the fact that investigations into Burdwan blasts have revealed a new trend of women taking to insurgent activities.
The two madrasas in question at Shimulia in Burdwan and at Laal Gola in Murshidabad were imparting training only to women in bomb making and other terror activities like transporting arms and ammunition safely from one area to the other.
NIA is in the process of ascertaining how many women had got trained at the two madrasas and at what level. As of now 40 suspects have been rounded up, four of which have been formally arrested
“It is indeed a major concern as apprehending women will not be easy for the forces and if there is a mis-hit, it will only further isolate the community further,” an investigation officer said.
