Ammonium nitrate use to be regulated, probe in Mumbai on all leads

Three days after Wednesday’s serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, investigators were still following up on "all leads" with all agencies – Mumbai Police, Intelligence Bureau and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) – pooling in their coordinated efforts and resources to scan through voluminous forensic evidence and CCTV footage in a bid to achieve a breakthrough.

"The investigations are being conducted at various level and span across a few States. They are progressing well and painstaking efforts are being taken by all the agencies involved in the probe," senior officials of the Union Home Ministry said on Saturday.

Even though Ammonium nitrate was used in the three blasts in Mumbai on July 13, traces of TNT were also found and officials say there was a "hallmark of sophistication" involved in assembling the explosive devices.

Post-13/7 serial blasts in the country's financial capital, Union Home Ministry, alarmed and concerned over use of Ammonium nitrate, a widely available fertiliser which is also used in mining industry, is vigorously pushing for carrying out amendments in the Explosives Act, 1884 for regulating its use. The rules have been doing the rounds of several ministries over the past three years without any amendment in the Act. Sources said that use of ammonium nitrate by farmers would be permitted but its storage, movement and procurement would be regulated.

Over the past four years, terror organisations have used Ammonium nitrate in serial blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Varanasi and Jaipur. When mixed with engine oil, gelatine sticks, shrapnels, nuts, bolts, Ammonium nitrate can be used as a deadly explosive to cause widespread damage to human life and property. As smuggling of RDX from across the border is increasingly becoming difficult, terrorists have used Ammonium nitrate in assembling explosive devices and blasting them by use of timers, forensic experts say.

The use of Ammonium nitrate in terror attacks is not something new. The attack in Oklahoma City, USA, in 1996 and the Bali, Indonesia, bombings of October 2002 made use of this chemical substance. It was banned last summer by the Karzai government in Afghanistan where Taliban have used in widely in street bombs.