The Students Islamic Movement of India held training camps in various parts of the country, besides Kerala and Halol in Gujarat, prior to the July 26 serial blasts in Ahmedabad, according to crime branch officials.
Coverage: Ahmedabad Blasts
SIMI camps were also held in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh and Dharwad district of Karnataka, said officials interrogating the suspects.
These training camps were similar to those held in Kerala (December 2007) and Halol (January 2008) where SIMI workers from different states participated, they added.
Breakthrough in Ahmedabad blasts case
The participants were trained in pistol firing, rock climbing, map reading and other activities.
Interrogation of the suspects also revealed that computer expert Taufiqe Bilal, whose real name is Abdul Subhan, believed to be one of the masterminds behind the serial blasts, was the publisher and editor of the magazine Islamic Movement, which is published from New Delhi, crime branch officials said.
How the Ahmedabad blasts case was solved
Subhan alias Taufiq is wanted in over five cases by the police of different states, they said.
He was wanted in a blast case in Mumbai and a case against SIMI in Surat, they added.
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The Mumbai-based computer expert, believed to be the one who had sent the email in the name of 'Indian Mujahideen', is also wanted for making inflammatory speeches on communal riots in the Gujarat and other states.
Subhan is still absconding along with Mohammad Qayamuddin, a resident of Vadodara.
The crime branch officials also questioned one of the accused Imran Sheikh, who said that he and his colleagues had done recce of the city civil hospital to plan the terror attack at its trauma centre.
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According to officials, Imran's father was a heart patient and had frequently visited the civil hospital for treatment. Whenever Imran's father came for treatment in civil hospital, four other blast accused under police custody --Yunus Mansuri, Usman Agarbattiwala, Jahid Sheikh and Samsudin Sheikh -- would come to visit him, officials said.
After visiting Imran's father, they would conduct a survey of the trauma centre.
Investigators say Indian Mujahideen is SIMI, V2.0
Crime branch officials said that looking at the modus operandi of the accused, it is likely that they were present in the civil hospital compound before the blast near the trauma centre, which killed the maximum number of people.
Ten SIMI activists, including Mufti Abu Bashir, who is considered to be the mastermind behind the blasts of July 26, are in police custody till August 31.
The other accused, who have been sent to police custody, include Jahid Sheikh, Imran Sheikh, Sajid Mansuri, Iqubal Sheikh, Samsudin Sheikh, Yunus Mansuir, Gyasuddin Ansari, Arif Kadri and Usman Agarbattiwala.