Ajmer blast has foreign links, says Patil

By IANS

Ajmer: Home Minister Shivraj Patil said Saturday that the bomb blast at Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti’s shrine here that killed two people appeared to have “links across the border”.


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Without naming any group or country, Patil told a press conference: “The investigations point to (terrorist) links across the border.

“Please don’t ask the police to reveal details of the investigation,” he went on. “When the probe is complete, the details will be revealed. The investigation is going as far as our borders.”

Rajasthan Police sources said six people, including two Bangladeshis, had been detained for questioning following the Thursday blast that killed two people and injured nearly 20.

It was the first terror attack at the dargah, South Asia’s top-most symbol of syncretism that draws millions of Muslims and non-Muslims every year from India and abroad.

The sources said that a mobile telephone with a SIM card was used as a trigger for the explosives planted in the shrine premises.

Investigators are looking into the involvement of the Harkat ul Jihadi Islami (HuJI), a Bangladesh-based terrorist outfit.

On Friday, the police recovered a live bomb from near the main gate of the shrine, which appeared to be similar to the one that went off Thursday evening. It was defused.

The Ajmer administration has decided not to provide compensation to the family of one of the victims, Salim, who was a resident of Hyderabad, after the police found some suspicious material in his pocket.

Salim had made Ajmer his home around nine years ago. He used to sell bangles near the shrine.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had announced a compensation of Rs.500,000 for the families of those killed in the blast and Rs.100,000 for the seriously injured.

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