Police unearth vital clues in search for Delhi bombers

NEW DELHI – Witness descriptions of an unshaven man who left a bomb on a bus, two sports bags and a timing device have provided vital leads in the hunt for those behind the serial blasts in New Delhi which killed 62, reports said yesterday.

Police were hunting for the casually-dressed man in his twenties, who witnesses said slipped off a bus after leaving a bag which exploded minutes later in New Delhi’s Okhla industrial area, newspapers and television channels said, quoting police sources. A rough sketch of the suspected bomber has been prepared with the help of a passenger who sat next to him and interacted with him briefly.All passengers on the bus were saved because the bus driver threw out the abandoned bag.Police said bags used in the two others blasts – in the Sarogina Nagar and Paharganj markets – on Saturday looked similar and they were questioning shopkeepers with the hope of identifying the purchasers.Investigators also said 60-minute timer devices were used and traces of Research Developed Explosive (RDX) have been found in the bomb devices, which can usually be assembled only by teams of experts.RDX is an ingredient in military explosives and in India has been associated with previous bomb blasts by militants.”It looks like the terrorist who used these devices must have trained for months before the attack with a proper recce of the target areas,” a senior police official, who did not want to be identified, told the Asian Age newspaper.Karnal Singh, the head of New Delhi’s anti-terrorism unit, said the attacks were probably coordinated by a single organisation, but were executed by different units of the group.”They targeted chaat shops (snack food stalls) at both Paharganj and Sarojini Nagar markets as they are generally crowded with women and children.The target was maximum damage,” he said.A police source quoted in the media said a cigarette vendor at Paharganj heard one of the suspected attackers directing the driver of a three-wheeler autorickshaw, from which he had just alighted, to continue to a crowded food stall and wait for him.Police believe the bag the man left in the rickshaw contained the bomb which exploded shortly afterwards.They suspect the man then slipped away to the nearby railway station and boarded a train.A portrait of the man was being prepared with the help of the vendor’s description.Investigators are poring through railway reservation charts of all trains leaving New Delhi around the time of the blast.- Nampa-AFPA rough sketch of the suspected bomber has been prepared with the help of a passenger who sat next to him and interacted with him briefly.All passengers on the bus were saved because the bus driver threw out the abandoned bag.Police said bags used in the two others blasts – in the Sarogina Nagar and Paharganj markets – on Saturday looked similar and they were questioning shopkeepers with the hope of identifying the purchasers.Investigators also said 60-minute timer devices were used and traces of Research Developed Explosive (RDX) have been found in the bomb devices, which can usually be assembled only by teams of experts.RDX is an ingredient in military explosives and in India has been associated with previous bomb blasts by militants.”It looks like the terrorist who used these devices must have trained for months before the attack with a proper recce of the target areas,” a senior police official, who did not want to be identified, told the Asian Age newspaper.Karnal Singh, the head of New Delhi’s anti-terrorism unit, said the attacks were probably coordinated by a single organisation, but were executed by different units of the group.”They targeted chaat shops (snack food stalls) at both Paharganj and Sarojini Nagar markets as they are generally crowded with women and children.The target was maximum damage,” he said.A police source quoted in the media said a cigarette vendor at Paharganj heard one of the suspected attackers directing the driver of a three-wheeler autorickshaw, from which he had just alighted, to continue to a crowded food stall and wait for him.Police believe the bag the man left in the rickshaw contained the bomb which exploded shortly afterwards.They suspect the man then slipped away to the nearby railway station and boarded a train.A portrait of the man was being prepared with the help of the vendor’s description.Investigators are poring through railway reservation charts of all trains leaving New Delhi around the time of the blast.- Nampa-AFP