Burdwan blast: IEDs found in house where militants were staying

Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency and the National Security Guard investigating the Burdwan blast on Thursday found IEDs in the attic of the two-storey house in Khagragarh where the militants were staying.

The ‘armoury’ of the militants was only 100 metres from the two-storey house at Khagragarh in Bengal’s Burdwan district where they militants were staying, sources told rediff.com.

Investigators had found the name of one Rizaul Shaikh on the palm of Abdul Hakim alias Hasan, who was injured in the October 2 explosion. NIA sleuths, while interrogating Hasan in their custody came to know that the latter had informed Shaikh about the blast around noon, and that Shaikh and his family had gone into hiding,

The NIA reached Shaikh’s residence at Badsahi Road near Khagragarh on Thursday with sniffer dogs, and discovered the ‘armoury’ in a loft above the toilet. The opening to the loft was too narrow and the NIA had to take the help of a local teenager to peep in. On being told that the space was full of ‘heavy-looking’ sacks, the NIA started digging.

The loft was laden with hand grenades and improvised explosive devices. NSG commandos thereafter took over and detonated the IEDs.

Image: The two-storey house at Khagragarh where the militants had been staying on rent.