Islamic preachers questioned over Mumbai bombings

Investigators questioned a group of Islamic preachers today in India’s remote north-east, searching for clues to last week’s deadly bombings on Mumbai’s commuter rail network.

The death toll in the July 11 attacks rose to 207 from 182 when officials added to the tally people who died after being taken to hospitals in Thane, a town outside Mumbai.

“All of them are blast victims,” said BM Raut, a disaster management official in the state government of Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located.

In the north-east, the preachers have spent the past three weeks deivering sermons in remote villages along India’s porous border with Bangladesh. Authorities fear Muslim militants might be smuggling weapons and munitions over that border into India.

Investigators from Mumbai’s anti-terrorist squad arrived in north-eastern Tripura state yesterday to question two preachers from Tabliq-e-Jamaat, a legal Muslim organisation, to determine whether they are connected to the Mumbai attacks, a police officer said.

Local police were questioning other Tabliq-e-Jamaat preachers in another part of the state, he said.

The group’s Tripura chief said he didn’t believe the preachers were involved in anything subversive.

“Investigators are free to question them and be satisfied, but they should not be harassed,” Taibur Rahman said.

Meanwhile, India’s president, APJ Abdul Kalam, arrived in Mumbai today to pay respects to those killed in the train blasts.

Kalam was expected to lay a floral wreath at Mahim suburban railroad station, one of the blast sites, and observe a two-minute silence at 6.24pm local time (2.34pm Irish time), the time when the first blast rocked the commercial and entertainment capital of India.

Air, train and bus services and private cars will come to a halt throughout Mumbai.

“A week after terrible Tuesday, time will again stand still today,” said The Times of India newspaper.

Yesterday, authorities announced that the powerful military explosive RDX, often used by Islamic militants in India’s part of Kashmir, was used in the July 11 attack.

“The explosive used was a mixture of ammonium nitrate, RDX and fuel oil,” said KP Raghuvanshi, who leads the anti-terrorist squad investigating the bombings.

Predominantly Muslim Kashmir is divided between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan, and lies at the heart of their rivalry.

Several rebel groups have been fighting since 1989 to end largely Hindu India’s rule over two thirds of the Himalayan territory. The insurgency has claimed about 65,000 lives.

India accuses Muslim-majority Pakistan of materially aiding the rebels. Pakistan says it only offers them moral and diplomatic support. Both countries claim all of Kashmir.

While no one has been arrested over the carefully co-ordinated Bombay train blasts, investigators suspect Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a Pakistan-based Muslim militant group blamed for a number of bombings in India in recent years. Lashkar is known for using the explosive RDX.

Still, Raghuvanshi declined to speculate on possible culprits, telling reporters only that investigators had fanned out across India to track down leads.

India’s suspicions of a Pakistan link have prompted New Delhi to slow a two-year peace process with Islamabad, which denies involvement in the blasts.