<p>Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operator Abdul Karim Tunda, known as an improvised explosive device (IED) expert for terror organisations, learnt to make bombs on his own around 28-years-ago at his home town of Pilkhuwa.<br /><br /></p>.<p>“He had no mentor who taught him to make bombs, unlike other terrorists. He learnt on his own,” said a senior police officer. <br /><br />He reportedly started making bombs to avenge the deaths of his close relatives and friends who died in the 1985 communal riots at Bhiwandi in Mumbai. <br /><br />However, when asked how he came to know about bomb-making, Tunda told interrogators about a man selling churan (digestive powder) used to visit his town Pilkhuwa.<br /><br />Tunda, then around 12 years old, used to watch other children light fires by mixing a few ingredients, including sugar and some white materials. The purpose of making the fire was to lure the children into buying churan.<br /><br />“But Tunda was very inquisitive about the fire ignited by the churan-seller, as was the whole group of kids,” said the officer. Tunda recounted that he found out within a year how the churan-seller created the fire. He learnt that the man used to mix “safedi powder” (Potash), sugar and acid to ignite the fire, said the officer.<br /><br />After witnessing communal riots at Bhiwandi when he was in Mumbai for some trade and hearing about the Gujarat riots during the same period, he became hardened. Finding out that a few of his friends and close relatives were killed in the riots, he wanted to take revenge. So he turned to bomb-making and started experimenting with the tricks he learnt in childhood. He then discovered the use of sulphuric acid and newspapers in making bombs. <br /><br />In Mumbai, Tunda met and befriended local resident Dr Jalees Ansari, who also helped him make bombs.<br /><br /> They constituted their own tanzeem, called “Tanzeem Islah-ul-Muslimeen” — Islamic Armed Organisation or Organisation for the Improvement of Muslims. Another top LeT militant, Azam Ghouri, had joined the tanzeem floated by Ahl-e-Hadis to avenge the Babri Masjid demolition incident. <br /><br />Tunda and his associate Ansari , in 1993, set off a series of explosions in Mumbai and Hyderabad and seven separate bomb blasts on trains. After Ansari’s arrest in January 1994, Tunda fled to Dhaka in Bangladesh and started teaching bomb-making skills.</p>
<p>Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operator Abdul Karim Tunda, known as an improvised explosive device (IED) expert for terror organisations, learnt to make bombs on his own around 28-years-ago at his home town of Pilkhuwa.<br /><br /></p>.<p>“He had no mentor who taught him to make bombs, unlike other terrorists. He learnt on his own,” said a senior police officer. <br /><br />He reportedly started making bombs to avenge the deaths of his close relatives and friends who died in the 1985 communal riots at Bhiwandi in Mumbai. <br /><br />However, when asked how he came to know about bomb-making, Tunda told interrogators about a man selling churan (digestive powder) used to visit his town Pilkhuwa.<br /><br />Tunda, then around 12 years old, used to watch other children light fires by mixing a few ingredients, including sugar and some white materials. The purpose of making the fire was to lure the children into buying churan.<br /><br />“But Tunda was very inquisitive about the fire ignited by the churan-seller, as was the whole group of kids,” said the officer. Tunda recounted that he found out within a year how the churan-seller created the fire. He learnt that the man used to mix “safedi powder” (Potash), sugar and acid to ignite the fire, said the officer.<br /><br />After witnessing communal riots at Bhiwandi when he was in Mumbai for some trade and hearing about the Gujarat riots during the same period, he became hardened. Finding out that a few of his friends and close relatives were killed in the riots, he wanted to take revenge. So he turned to bomb-making and started experimenting with the tricks he learnt in childhood. He then discovered the use of sulphuric acid and newspapers in making bombs. <br /><br />In Mumbai, Tunda met and befriended local resident Dr Jalees Ansari, who also helped him make bombs.<br /><br /> They constituted their own tanzeem, called “Tanzeem Islah-ul-Muslimeen” — Islamic Armed Organisation or Organisation for the Improvement of Muslims. Another top LeT militant, Azam Ghouri, had joined the tanzeem floated by Ahl-e-Hadis to avenge the Babri Masjid demolition incident. <br /><br />Tunda and his associate Ansari , in 1993, set off a series of explosions in Mumbai and Hyderabad and seven separate bomb blasts on trains. After Ansari’s arrest in January 1994, Tunda fled to Dhaka in Bangladesh and started teaching bomb-making skills.</p>
