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'Evidence' of Pak group's involvement in blasts

A correspondent

A Union Ministry of Home source today said it had conclusive evidence to prove that the recent blasts in churches were the handiwork of a Pakistani group.

He said 'Deendar Anjuman', a group led by Pakistani national Zia-ul-Hassan, was behind the string of blasts that took place in churches in south India.

The IB, the source said, conducted investigations in Karnataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh simultaneously and interrogated several suspects. During one such interrogation Syed Ibrahim, who was injured seriously in a bomb blast in a Maruti van on July 9 in Bangalore, confessed to his involvement in the church blasts.

Two other occupants of the car -- Mohammed Fida alias Rehaman Siddique and Zakir -- died on the spot.

Ibrahim confessed that he had made visits to Goa in March and May this year to buy the Maruti van. The explosives recovered from the van had the same composition as those used in the blasts in religious institutions since May 21.

The Home Ministry source said Zia-ul-Hassan's father founded the 'Deendar Anjuman.' The organisation has offices in Mardan, Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Sargodha.

Zakir, one of the two who died in the Bangalore van blast, visited Pakistan in September 1992 along with seven other Anjuman members.

Anti-Christian hate literature was recovered from the residence of the injured Syed Ibrahim at Bangalore and the Vijayawada office of the Anjuman.

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