Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=09/13/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=INDIA / BOMBAY BOMBER (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-307456

BYLINE=BARRY KALB

DATELINE=HONG KONG

INTRO: Police officials in Bombay, India say the mastermind behind last month's

twin car bombings, which killed 52 people in the city and injured

another 150, was shot to death Friday in a gun battle with police.

Barry Kalb reports from our Asia New Center in Hong Kong.

TEXT: The man was Naseer, a Muslim who like many Indians uses only one

name. Police officials say he was the brains behind twin car bombings

in Bombay on August 25th, which killed or injured more than 200 people.

The officials said Naseer had formed a group known as the Gujarat Muslim

Revenge Force, whose aim was to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed by

Hindu mobs in the state of Gujarat last year.

Naseer and an accomplice were reportedly traveling in a car loaded with

explosives and guns late Friday when they were intercepted by the police

in Bombay. The officials were quoted as saying the police knew of

Naseer's movements, and had laid a trap for him.

When he tried to flee, a gunfight ensued, and he and his accomplice were

killed. The accomplice has not yet been identified.

Two car bombs were set off within minutes of each other in Bombay last

month, one in a crowded market and one at the famous Gateway of India, a

landmark from the British colonial era. Fifty-two people died and 150

were injured.

Four people had already been arrested, and according to police

officials, they claimed they were avenging the more than one-thousand

Muslims who died in last year's riots. One official said the suspects

had identified Naseer as the man who provided them with the explosives

used in the bombings.

The riots were a retaliation for the earlier deaths of 59 Hindus, who

were killed when their train was set afire by Muslims. Naseer's Gujarat

Muslim Revenge Force was also named as the perpetrator of a bombing in

Bombay last July that killed four people and injured 42.

Bombay newspaper reports Saturday said Naseer had links to the group

Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant Muslim group fighting a violent separatist

battle in Indian Kashmir. (Signed)

NEB/HK/BK/KBK