On July 11, 15 years years ago, seven blasts in a duration of 11 minutes in first-class suburban train compartments had left Mumbai rattled.
Not only was it one of the worst-ever terror attacks in any metropolitan city in India, but also the most dangerous attack on urban transportation systems anywhere in the world.
This Sunday marked the 15th anniversary of the July 11, 2006 blasts or the 7/11 blasts, which claimed 187 lives and injured 1,024 others.
The orchestrated blasts occurred in gents’ first-class compartments of crowded trains bound for Borivli and Virar. The commuters were mostly included executives, businessmen and government employees as well as private establishments employees besides college students.
Coinciding with the anniversary, various senior Railway officers placed wreaths on these stations as a mark of respect and paid tributes to the departed souls.
It was Lashkar-e-Taiba who executed the blasts with the ground support of activists of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). A total of 13 persons were booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
On September 11, 2015, as many as 12 of the 13 accused were convicted and sentenced while one of them was acquitted. The main planner and conspirator was Azam Cheema alias Babaji, the Bahawalpur-based LeT commander who doubled up as an ISI operative – a wanted-accused in the case. He started the planning several years ago and commenced training of some of the key players in the act of terror.
After a detailed probe, the ATS has pieced together the entire modus operandi, but the key conspirators were still at large.
Of the seven blasts, planters in the five blasts had been identified. The Al Qaeda imprint was also a matter of probe.
Nearly 15 to 20 kgs of RDX were used in the blasts, which was brought by Eshamullah while the ammonium nitrate was locally procured. Five-litre pressure cooker bombs were used to trigger the explosions and quartz timers were used.
The bombs were assembled at the residence of Shaikh, Chembur residence of accused Mohammed Ali and were then taken to one of the accused’s residences. The bombs were planted at the Churchgate station.
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