THIS YASIN BHARTAL, arrested in Bihar in the past week, is the guy who was caught on camera planting the bomb at the German Bakery near the Pune Resort. (SN Editors)
Yasin Bhatkal: India Mujahideen ‘top militant’ arrested
The group is thought to be behind deadly blasts in the cities of Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.
Mr Bhatkal, who officials say is a co-founder of the home-grown group, is one of the most wanted men in India. Reports say that he was detained close to the border with Nepal. The arrest of Yasin Bhatkal is being described as a “second major breakthrough” by security analysts.
Less than a fortnight ago, Delhi police said they had arrested Abdul Karim Tunda, believed to be a bomb expert from Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Both were arrested along the Nepal border, although it’s not known if the arrests are linked.
Police suspect Yasin Bhatkal is behind multiple attacks in which hundreds of people have been killed in the last five years. The 30-year-old engineering graduate from the southern state of Karnataka keeps a low profile. But he is believed to be a “hands-on” militant – intelligence officials say he actually planted the bomb in 2010 in Pune’s German Bakery. He was apparently captured on CCTV there, and again at a blast site this year in Hyderabad.
His real name is believed to be Muhammad Ahmed Zarrar Siddibappa, but he uses a number of aliases, officials say.
The authorities had announced a reward of 1m rupees ($14,862; £9,583) for information leading to his arrest.
Mr Bhatkal was arrested along with another alleged member of the IM who has been identified as Asadullah Akhtar, reports said.
The group was outlawed in 2010 after Indian authorities blamed it for an attack on a German bakery in Pune in which 17 people were killed and 64 people were injured.
“Yasin Bhatkal being caught is a big achievement because he was a big motivator, logistics provider. He had learned to make explosives and he had also trained many others in making explosives successfully,” Reuters news agency quoted defence expert Bharat Verma as saying.
Former Indian home secretary RK Singh told the NDTV news channel that security forces had been working for years to catch Yasin Bhatkal, whom he described as “one of the most active terrorists in the region”.
“Catching a trained terrorist is very difficult and, therefore, I feel it is a great success,” he said.
However, Ajit Kumar Singh of the Institute of Conflict Management in Delhi urged caution, saying the arrest would be a “big catch” but the police had a history of bungled operations, AFP news agency reports.
“The intelligence agencies deserve a huge pat on their backs if they have indeed arrested the right man,” he said.
