Cooperation key to solving Hyderabad blasts case: Mukherjee

Exterbnal Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said that cooperation is the key to tracking down the terror group that was behind the August 25 twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad.

New Delhi, Sept.4 : Exterbnal Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said that cooperation is the key to tracking down the terror group that was behind the August 25 twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad.

The blasts claimed the lives of over 40 people and wounded about 80 others. The incident took place over three months after 11 people were killed in a bomb explosion inside the historic Mecca Masjid.

Four persons were arrested on September 2 in connection with the Masjid bombing in May, with officials saying the same group could also be involved in August's twin bombings in the same city.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) also arrested a "Bangladeshi" woman, Shahi Lajajani for staying illegally in India.

Police suspect her brother Rizvan, also staying illegally in India for last six years, as being involved in the twin blasts.

Mukherjee said the government was willing to offer all information to the investigation, since cooperation was imperative at this point.

"You know, during a meeting of the Home Secretaries at the Ministry, we suggested to them... we have given some particulars as we normally give to them about those who are indulging in all sorts of activities like insurgency and other terrorist activities and we seek their cooperation," Mukherjee told reporters at an Editors' Conference in the national capital.

Authorities suspect Islamist militant groups based in Pakistan and Bangladesh are behind the attacks. Both Islamabad and Dhaka have rejected the idea, saying Indian officials are jumping to conclusions.

Police said the main suspect was Shahid Bilal of Harkat-ul Jihad Islami (HuJI), a Bangladesh group originally set up during Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

ANI