313 Key Numbers In the German Bakery Blast in India

In Febraury of 2010, in Pune, India (near Mumbai) al Qaeda bombmed a German bakery, killing 8 and wounding 57. Some usefull inteligence is emerging about 313 Brigade from that attack. See below.

Shimron Issachar



INVESTIGATION into the German Bakery blast has led security agencies to conclude that terror outfits are increasingly relying on al-Qaeda's tried-and-tested 313 brigade's method of indoctrination to get their cadres to believe they are fighting a holy fight.

The brigade's indoctrination techniques are built around Prophet Mohammed' s Battle of Badr in 624 AD in which he was assisted by 313 companions. These 313 companions later came to be known as Allah ke Bande and, by having this sacred number in everything they use, the terrorists are led to believe that they, too, are the Lord's fellows.

Senior ATS officials, who have spotted this pattern in the German Bakery blast in Pune, said that the Indian Mujahideen has also taken to instilling this doctrine into its cadres.

The number 313, or a combination of these digits, was present in almost everything that the blast accused used right from the number plates on the bikes and their cellphone numbers to the T-shirts they were sporting.

"The accused were using a combination of 313 numbers throughout. The team had 13 members, all the motorbikes which were used by the group had 13 in the registration numbers and even their t-shirts had 13 emblazoned on them.

One of the arrested accused, Shahnawaz Sayyed Abid Sayyed, bought a plot at Ambedkar Nagar which had the survey number 13, and most importantly, the blast occurred on February 13, 2010," said an ATS officer on condition of anonymity.

Cellphones

ATS sources said all the text messages and call details which are being scrutinised by them because of links to the blast have their origins in phone numbers which have 313 in them.

The ATS has been keeping a close watch on one Wasim, a very active member of the now banned Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

Wasim is also very close to Mohsin Chowdhary, suspected mastermind of the German Bakery blast. Wasim's mobile phone number, said investigators, was 9730333313 while Shahnawaz's number was 9096113333.

Investigation into Wasim's movements on February 13 points to his involvement in the blast. The ATS has retrieved his call and SMS records from February 10 to February 13.

Brigade 313

In June, al-Qaeda generated a website, www.aqbrigade313.com, and Ilyas Kashmiri, leader of the Lashkar-Al-Zil, was announced the chief of an eponymous brigade.

The Brigade 313 website's landing page has the words 'al-Qaeda Brigade 313' in the centre, while text describing Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jundallah and Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan occupies the four corners of the page.

After the Pune blast, Kashmiri sent text messages to media organisations in the Gulf claiming the blast was the handiwork of members of the 313 brigade.

'Wanted to strike Varanasi on Dec 13'

Senior ATS officials said the 313 pattern can be detected in Tuesday's Varanasi blast as well.

"Initial investigations have revealed that the terrorists' original plan was to strike on December 13, in keeping with the 313 pattern.

The blast was prepositioned to ensure that it happens during French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to India," said a senior intelligence official.

"Fortunately, they did not get enough time to plan the blast properly on Tuesday, which resulted in less casualties. The blast would have been a major one had they stuck to their original plan," he added.

The Rest @ Mid-day News, Mumbai, India