Indian police on Saturday said two local groups supported by the Pakistan-based militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) organized bomb blasts in Delhi, Ahmedabad and Jaipur earlier this year.
The capture of a cell of the Indian Mujahideen group in Delhi on Friday had provided vital clues and a breakthrough in investigations into the Delhi blasts on September 13, which had left 24 people dead and scores injured, Karnal Singh, joint commissioner of Delhi Police said at a press briefing.
The police killed two men suspected of being involved in the market blasts in the city in a fierce encounter in a south Delhi area on Friday.
The mastermind behind the Delhi blasts, known by an alias of Bashir, and a top leader of the Indian Mujahideen were killed on Friday, Singh said.
The police are searching for 13 other men who were allegedly involved in the blasts.
Laptops and mobiles recovered from an apartment in Jamianagar after Friday's encounter provided vital leads along with information gathered from the interrogation of two arrested suspects, Singh said.
The laptops contained emails related to the blast and material connected with al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, the official said.
There was conclusive evidence to prove that this module was behind the blasts in Ahmedabad on July 26 and Jaipur on May 13, Singh said. He said the men had visited these cities for reconnaissance days before returning to engineer the blasts.
The module had also carried out the blasts in courts in Uttar Pradesh state in 2007 with the help of "others," he said.
None of the men had previous criminal records.
The series of blasts in major cities in India since January had left investigators grappling with what they suspected was a wide homegrown terror network. The police are hoping the latest breakthrough would give an impetus to investigations.
The federal government, which has been accused of being soft on terror by opposition parties, is mulling the appointment of a minister for internal security within the Home Ministry.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said funding for police and investigative agencies would be increased.
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