IM operative Waqas tells how he became a terrorist, planned for blasts

New Delhi: Zia-ur-Rehman alias Waqas claims to have been motivated very early and wanted to participate in jehadi activities. In 2009, he met LeT recruiter Taj Mohammed. Then 21 year old Waqas told him that he wanted to get trained and fight for jehad in Kashmir.

But Taj wasn't interested. He told him to come back later. This happened number of times. Finally he was convinced that Waqas was interested in Jehad. He was sent for training along with 20-25 other youngsters.

Training took place in Naushera. Each group was divided in 7-8. All of then were in their late teens or early twenties. Their trainers were Abu Bakr, Abdullah and Azhar.

Over all supervisor was one Abu Manzur. It was 21 day training called daur-e-aam, which started at 5.30 am and went for 12 hours.

They woke up at 5 am after prayers, there was a physical exercise which went for 2 hours. Breakfast was at 8 am. Then 2 hours of religious studies. From 10 am, they were taught how to handle different weapons like G-2 AK-47, .32 n 30 bore revolver. This was for four hours. From 2 pm till 5 pm, they practised firing at a shooting range.

After completing the course, he wasn't too excited and decided to train further. That's when he met JeM operative Abdur Rehman who directed him to go to Wazirstan in FATA region. Waqas was taken to a place identified as Marghaz-e-Aqsa (a big complex) and was trained along with 20-25 men.

Nasir bhai was camp-in-charge. Ahmed and Talha were trainers. It was a 20 day training module called Zuhaib . First he was told to handle an LMG and AK-47.

Because of rigorous nature of the course, some left the camp. Next part was training was handling of explosives. He specialized in three kinds of explosives - hydrogen peroxide, potassium cholrate and ammonia nitrate.

After ten days of training he was finally told how to assemble electronic circuit. He learned to handle six types of electronic circuit.

It was a stressful training. After this he was taken for excursion and was made to workout on the nearby hills to building stamina.

After completion of training, he met Abdur Rehman again. He told Waqas to go to Karachi and stay in a hotel. There another handler met him and took him to a man who introduced himself as Javed. Later he realized that Javed was actually IM founder Riaz Bhatkal.

There were quite a few meetings between them. Then one fine day on the 1st week of September 2010, Riaz gave him a passport and asked him to board a flight from Karachi to Kathmandu. Riaz told him that some one called Tehseen/Monu (now chief of Indian Mujahideen) will meet him.

In the same flight Assadullah Akhtar was also there. Both were travelling incognito, he was traveling as Waqas and Akhtar as Daniel. That's when the name Waqas stuck to him.

From Nepal, he crossed Indo-Nepal border. Monu then took them to Darbhanga, where began his innings with Yasin Bhatkal.

Varansi (Sheetla Ghat) blasts December 7, 2010

In this blast they used hydrogen peroxide. Yasin Bhatkal, Monu, Assadullah and Waqas participated in the attacked. Assadullah purchased hydrogen peroxide in Kolkata. Waqas prepared two IEDs. While putting detonator in the IED, there was a blast. He got serious injuries on his hand and 2 of his fingers got badly hurt.

Mumbai Serial blasts - July, 13 2011

Planning of this attack started way back in March. Yasin got a flat at habib apartments near Iran hotel, Byculla. For two months they stayed there and mixed with locals. To pass time, he would learn mobile repairing. But the real reason was he wanted to learn how to trigger a blast with mobile phone. They even prepared fake IDs.

It was in June Yasin told Waqas to carry out the attack. He was told to make the circuit. Assadullah got explosives from Manglore this time. They got about one lakh for logistics and financing from hawala channels.

He then reecced the potential targets. The plan was to carry out maximum casualty. He went to Dadar foot over bridge and Sidhi Vinayak temple (dropped the idea because of security at the temple). Finally after a lot planning they decided the targets. This time he used a different explosive to trigger blast.

Assadullah got gellatine stick and explosives. Two black colour activa was stolen from chor bazaar and opera house. On the day of attack, activa was taken to spot. Yasin told him to trigger the blast at 6.30 pm. Little after 6.40 pm blasts happened.