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Four detained in connection with Pune blast

February 16, 2010 21:22 IST

Four persons suspected to be having links with Indian Mujahideen were picked up on Tuesday for questioning in connection with the German Bakery blast and the police said it has got "vital" information from CCTV footages. While two of them were from Kudalwadi and Janwadi localities in Pune, two others from Aurangabad were quizzed.

Even as the police was struggling to get a major breakthrough, Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh said they have got the forensic report and it has established that RDX and ammonium nitrate were used in the attack at the popular eatery on Saturday. "It was a mixture of RDX, Ammonium Nitrate and Petroleum Hydrocarbon oil that set off the blast," he told reporters in Pune. "We have the CCTV footage. We have got some vital information from it," he said.

In Mumbai, Rashmi Shukla, IG, said no arrests have been made so far. Asked whether SIMI members were being questioned or any group is being suspected, she said, "it is too early...all these aspects are being looked into. We are not ruling out any possibility

Asked about the quantity of RDX used in the device and whether the blast was triggered with a timer or a remote control, Singh said it was still being investigated. "Ball bearings and nut bolts too were used in the blast," he added.

He said the combination of explosives confirmed in the forensic analysis have earlier been also used in terror attacks in India.

Police today continued the process of recording accounts of eyewitnesses. Investigators are trying to piece together the details of who planned the attack. They are also probing possible links between the Pune blast and Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley.Headley is lodged in a Chicago jail for his alleged involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. He had surveyed the area near the blast site during his trips to Pune last year.

Investigators are looking at the possibility of whether the intended target was either the Jewish community centre Chabad House, or the Osho Ashram, both within a few feet of the bakery.The toll could have been higher as many of the foreigners had left for Osho Ashram for their 7 pm meditation and prayer session. Asked whether IM was behind the Pune blast, the Police Commissioner said, "When we book the guilty only then we will be in a position to identify the group involved in the attack."

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