Delhi, Kanpur brace for Pune-like attack

Even as India braces itself for another Pune-style attack, investigations into the German Bakery blast on Saturday — which has so far claimed nine lives — suggest the involvement of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) and Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyeba. List of victims

“It looks like a combined effort, commanded by the Lashkar leadership in Pakistan and executed by IM sleeper cells,” said a senior security official. “US citizen David Headley is the man Lashkar used to conduct the recce.”

Home Ministry officials in Delhi said the explosives used in the first major terror attack after 26/11 could be a cocktail of ammonium nitrate and RDX along with shrapnel and nails. The ingredients, said an officer speaking on condition of anonymity, point to the IM, which used RDX in the Jaipur and Ahmedabad blasts.

Security officials said the probe would focus on the IM. “Since they are the ones executing the plans, investigators are trying to work backwards to identify them,” an official said, adding that intelligence agencies are scanning CCTV footage from the hotel opposite the bakery to identify the man who allegedly planted the backpack with the explosives.
Pune Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh refused to comment on the involvement of IM. “We are investigating every possible angle… I am confident that we will be able to crack it very soon,” he said.