Attack clues show terrorists came via Nepal

While central agencies are still to establish the identity of the Ayodhya attackers, the mobile phone recovered from them has led the investigation trail to New Delhi and Jammu. Senior Jammu and Kashmir police officials have landed in Ayodhya to help the identification process.

Though the terrorists had removed the SIM card and battery from the mobile phone, the service provider has been identified as Idea through the IMEI code, which is unique to each hand set.

Investigations reveal that the attackers had been planning the strike on the disputed structure at least a month ago with one call being made to the Jammu area and another call made to Delhi. This clue has partly led to the conclusion that the terrorist may have come from different areas to Ayodhya including Delhi.

While sleuths involved in the investigations are confident that the identity of the terrorists will be revealed within days, there has been no documentation recovered from the dead bodies except a religious book. The weapons have Chinese markings and could have been purchased from the open market. The bomb used to blast the Marshall jeep has been found to be an improvised explosive device containing ammoniun nitrate in large quantities.

The Special Task Force of the UP police is now studying exhaustive details of calls made in the Faizabad, Ayodhya and district Ambedkarnagar areas on June 5.

‘‘All calls emanating from the mobile towers in these districts on the said day are being studied and matched with the IMEI code for further clues of where the terrorists came from,’’ an STF official said.

Highly placed sources say STF, based on this telephonic evidence, has been able to trace that the terrorists came from Akbarpur in district Ambedkarnagar on the morning of July 5.

They had most likely stayed in a place called Kichula near Akbarpur for four days after arriving there from Nepal through UP’s Basti district on July 1, sources said. ‘‘During these four days, they were coming to Ayodhya every day from Kichuala for a recee of the area. The telephonic evidence is pointing strongly to this,’’ sources add.

Investigation shows that the five accused finally landed in Akbarpur on the previous night, July 4, and stayed in a guesthouse near the Akbarpur railway station. Next day, at 5:30 am, they took a maxicab on hire for Rs 400 from Akbarpur’s Tehsil intersection.

‘‘They all were carrying heavy bags and refused to accommodate more passengers in the maxi cab. Around 7 am, I dropped them off at Faizabad bus station,’’ the driver of the maxicab Rajkumar has reportedly told the police.

From there, Syed Rehan Ahmed who took the accused to the Ram temple in his Marshall remains the only other clue for the police. ‘‘We have extensively questioned Rehan but he is not able to disclose much. His passport and Saudi Arabia links are being closely probed and we have brought him today to the makeshift temple for a re-construction of the entire incident. But that is about all,’’ SSP Faizabad Avinash Chander told The Indian Express.

SSP Chander insisted that the sixth person killed, Ramesh Pandey who was identified yesterday as a local resident and a tour guide, ‘‘ was a simple passer-by and was killed in the jeep blast as he happed to pass by the road then.’’

Delhi, J-K cops pitch in

New Delhi: A team of the J&K Police and Delhi police have reached Faizabad this evening to help UP police in the investigation. The J&K police are learnt to have brought along photographs of all listed terrorists in a laptop for matching them with those of the slain terrorists to help in identification. They will also be working on re-construction of some of the mutilated faces of the slain terrorists in photographs to reveal the original face, sources add.