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Indian police arrest 4th suspect in Mumbai train blast Updated 7/24/2006 11:28 PM ET
By Ken Moritsugu, Special for USA TODAY NEW DELHI — Four men arrested in connection with coordinated bombings in Mumbai that killed 207 people nearly two weeks ago had links to Islamic militants, Indian authorities say.
Investigator K.P. Raghuvanshi on Monday announced the arrest over the weekend of a fourth suspect, Tanvir Ahmed Ansari. He said Ansari, a practitioner of traditional Muslim medicine, contacted Islamic militant groups during a 2001 visit to Bahrain. In a 2004 visit to Pakistan, Ansari allegedly learned to make bombs, he said.
Friday, Raghuvanshi said three men allegedly linked to terror networks had been arrested on charges of detonating seven bombs on commuter trains in India's commercial capital, formerly known as Bombay, on July 11. "We have definite evidence that these people are linked to terrorist activities," he said without providing details. "They have connections with groups in Nepal and Bangladesh, which are directly or indirectly connected to Pakistan."
India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, a territory divided between the two countries. Pakistan wants to control all of Kashmir, which is predominantly Muslim, as is Pakistan. India is a majority Hindu nation, but it has a large Muslim population. Indian officials, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have accused Pakistan of failing to crack down on Pakistan-based terror groups that hope to dislodge India from Kashmir.
The day before the arrests last week, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf called Indian allegations of a Pakistani role in the Mumbai attacks "unsubstantiated." "I want to assure the government of India that Pakistan will cooperate with it to identify the terrorists, if you give us proof," he said.
The July 11 blasts were the latest in a series of attacks in India over the past nine months. Three bombs killed more than 60 people in New Delhi before a Hindu festival on Oct. 29. A gunman killed one person and injured at least four in Bangalore, India's high-tech hub, on Dec. 28. Two bombs killed more than 20 people on March 7 in Varanasi, a Hindu pilgrimage city.
Indians should prepare for more such attacks in the wake of the bombings in Mumbai, says Wilson John, a senior fellow at the New Delhi think tank Observer Research Foundation. He says militant Islamic groups seeking an end to Indian control of Kashmir have encouraged the development of terrorist networks across India.
"It's a clear pattern. It's not going to change; it will only increase," he says.
Radha Kumar, director of the Nelson Mandela Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, says the synchronized bombings bear the hallmarks of al-Qaeda.
While there is no evidence that al-Qaeda is operating in India, local groups appear to be inspired by its methods, says Bahukutumbi Raman, the former counterterrorism chief for the Research and Analysis Wing, the Indian equivalent of the Central Intelligence Agency. "Bombay is a warning signal. India needs to take al-Qaeda more seriously," he says.
Raman also says al-Qaeda may want to recruit Indian Muslims as operatives; Indians attract less suspicion when traveling internationally than Pakistanis because of Pakistan's record as a base for terrorists.
Some Indian Muslim youths are buying into Osama bin Laden's rhetoric, he says. "This is a small number," Raman says. "But in Mumbai, we see the damage a small number can cause."
Contributing: Wire reports Posted 7/24/2006 8:11 PM ET