Leader of Terrorist Group Is Arrested, India Says

NEW DELHI â€" The Indian authorities have arrested a leader of a terrorist group suspected in a series of deadly bombings in major cities, a top official announced on Thursday.

Yasin Bhatkal.

The suspect, Yasin Bhatkal, is one of the founders of Indian Mujahedeen, a banned Islamic militant group that is believed to be responsible for blasts in New Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities. He was arrested near the border with Nepal.

The top official, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, told reporters in the capital that Mr. Bhatkal was in police custody and undergoing interrogation in the state of Bihar.

Mr. Bhatkal and several of his relatives had founded the Indian Mujahedeen and operated it from Pakistan, India’s former home secretary, R.K. Singh, told the news channel NDTV. He said Mr. Bhatkal was among the network’s most central figures and described his arrest as the latest in a series of “major successes” for Indian intelligence. Mr. Bhatkal, who is believed to be in his 30s and traveled under a long list of pseudonyms, was detained years ago in Kolkata, but the police did not ascertain his true identity and he was released, Mr. Singh said.

Mr. Bhatkal was reportedly captured on surveillance video in 2011 dropping a bag in a German bakery in Pune and then leaving. Shortly afterward, a bomb exploded, killing 17 people and injuring 60.

It was the second major terrorism arrest in the past two weeks. The Delhi police recently announced the arrest of Abdul Karim Tunda, an explosives expert who had been operating from Pakistan and who was also detained along the border with Nepal.

Indian Mujahedeen drew the public’s attention 2008 when it claimed responsibility for setting bombs that tore through the pink-walled center of Jaipur, killing 63 people and injuring more than 100. The explosives had been attached to bicycles. A video message published at the time said the group’s intent was to deter tourism and distance the Indian government from the United States.

A few months later, a series of low-intensity bombs â€" also attached to bicycles â€" killed 56 people and injured more than 200 in the city of Ahmedabad; some journalists received an e-mail saying Indian Mujahedeen was responsible. The group is also suspected of setting off five bombs at crowded markets and thoroughfares around Delhi in September of the same year, killing dozens and wounding many more.

The authorities suspect that the group was involved in an attack in 2011 that targeted rush-hour travelers in Mumbai, the economic capital, and killed at least 17 people. Indian Mujahedeen has also been linked to an attack in February in which two blasts went off at a crowded bus stand in Hyderabad, killing 16 and injuring more than 100.