Investigators questioned a group of Islamic preachers yesterday in India's remote northeast, searching for clues to last week's deadly bombings on Mumbai's commuter rail network which killed 207 people.
The preachers have spent the past three weeks delivering sermons in remote villages along India's porous border with Bangladesh. Authorities fear Muslim militants might be smuggling weapons and munitions over that border into India.
On Monday, authorities announced that the powerful military explosive RDX, often used by Islamic militants in India's part of Kashmir, was used in the July 11 attacks in Mumbai which also wounded more than 800.
"The explosive used was a mixture of ammonium nitrate, RDX and fuel oil," said K.P. Raghuvanshi, who leads the anti-terrorist squad investigating the bombings.
Investigators from Mumbai's anti-terrorist squad arrived in northeastern Tripura state on Monday to question two preachers from Tabliq-e-Jamaat, a legal Muslim organization, to determine whether they are connected to the Mumbai attacks, a police officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
Local police were questioning other Tabliq-e-Jamaat preachers in another part of the state, he said.
The group's Tripura chief told reporters on Monday that he didn't believe the preachers were involved in anything subversive.
"Investigators are free to question them and be satisfied, but they should not be harassed," Taibur Rahman said.
Meanwhile, President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, arrived in Mumbai yesterday to pay respects to those killed in last week's train blasts, as the death toll was raised from 182 to 207.
Kalam was expected to lay a floral wreath at Mahim suburban railroad station, one of the blast sites, and observe a two-minute silence at 6:24pm, the time when the first blast rocked the city.
Air, train and bus services and private cars will come to a halt throughout Mumbai.
``A Week After Terrible Tuesday, Time Will Again Stand Still Today,'' the Times of India newspaper said.
No one has been arrested over the carefully coordinated Mumbai train blasts, but investigators suspect Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a Pakistan-based Muslim militant group blamed for a number of bombings in India in recent years.
Lashkar is known for using the explosive RDX.
Still, Raghuvanshi declined to speculate on possible culprits, telling reporters only that investigators had fanned out across India to track down leads.
India's suspicions of a Pakistan link have prompted New Delhi to slow a two-year peace process with Islamabad.
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