They are the growth centres of India and terror targets. Tier-II cities of India are on the radar of terrorist organisations like Indian Mujahideen (IM) for a long time now.
Ever since Indian Mujahideen, the home-bred terror outfit, surfaced after the Gujarat blasts of 2008, sustained interrogation of the arrested IM operatives have revealed a startling pattern: smaller cities feature on the terror hitlist.
In fact, Shahzad Alam alias Pappu, the suspected IM operative who was arrested a fortnight ago for his alleged role in the 2008 serial blasts in Delhi, also told interrogators that Tier II cities including Pune was a target.
in the past few years, the IM has been accused of triggering blasts in several smaller cities including Ajmer, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Varanasi.
Senior ATS officials said that with metro cities like Mumbai and Delhi under perennial threat, security arrangements have been beefed up, particularly after the 26/11 terror attack. This makes it difficult and acts as a deterrent, forcing terror groups to shift their focus to smaller cities.
“In most blasts cases where smaller cities are targeted, the magnitude of the blast and damage caused is comparatively less,” observed an ATS officer. “However, the terror group is successful in terrorising people and having a lasting impact on the psyche of the citizens there,” he added.
A case in point is the blast hours before an LK Advani rally at Coimbatore- which ironically took place exactly on the same day (February 13) 12 years ago — and the town is still recovering from it.
