Delhi attributes several blasts to Islamist group

New Delhi (IANS) The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was behind several terror attacks in India, including the serial bombings in Ahmedabad last month, the government has informed the Supreme Court while justifying a ban on the organisation.

The government made this allegation in an additional affidavit submitted to the court, detailing SIMI's illegal and unlawful activities. In a bulky affidavit filed to the apex court's registry, it said SIMI was behind not only the Ahmedabad serial bombings of July 26 but almost all major terror attacks in the country, including the July 2006 serial bombings in Mumbai suburban trains and the September 2006 blasts in Malegaon town of Maharashtra.

The affidavit seeks to buttress its plea to reverse a Delhi judicial tribunal order which August 5 scrapped a central government notification declaring SIMI an unlawful organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The affidavit was filed by home ministry joint secretary Arun Kumar Yadav. Accusing SIMI of being behind the Ahmedabad bombings, the petition said the Gujarat government made available the information.