Burdwan Blast: Myanmar national held from Hyderabad

Two suspected militants were killed in the October 2 blast in Burdwan of India. Photo: Mail Online

In a major breakthrough, Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a Myanmar national from southern Indian city of Hyderabad in connection with the Burdwan blast case.

The agency, probing the October 2 blast in Burdwan of West Bengal, identified the 38-year-old arrestee as Khaleed alias Khalid Mohammed, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Mohammed, said to be trained in improvised explosive device expert and belongs to Rohingya solidarity organisation, has links with Bangladesh-based militant groups, sources said.

Khalid ïs stated to be involved in running terror camps in bordering areas of Bangladesh and Myanmar.

He was found in possession of incriminating videos of training materials, literature relating to poisons, IED-making, bomb-making, explosives and Jihadi literature including ISIS.

"He has admitted to have undergone training conducted by Tehereek-e-Azadi Arakan with trainers from Tehereeke-Taliban, Pakistan", NIA said in a statement issued today.

It said Khalid has been staying in Hyderabad and managed to fake identity documents and was found without valid documents.

This is the third arrest of a key suspect in the blast after alleged mastermind of the incident Rezaul Karim Sajid, a Bangladeshi national and stated to be a chief commander of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), and Zia-ul-Haque were apprehended from Kolkata few days back.

 Sajid is the first Bangladeshi to be arrested in Burdwan blast case.    

On October 2, the blast in a house at Khagragarh in Burdwan town left one Shakil Ahmed dead on the spot while another victim Sovan Mandal died at a hospital. Both were suspected to have links with the JMB.

Zia-ul-Haque is suspected to be a key motivator of the terror module and a close associate of key accused Sajid.

 A four-member NIA team, headed by its Director General Sharad Kumar, is now in Dhaka to share information with Bangladeshi security agencies regarding Burdwan blast and activities of JMB and help the authorities in Bangladesh how to counter the threat posed by terror groups.