Church Street bomber identified

Bengaluru: The alleged Church Street blast prime accused Rafeeq alias Alam Jeb Afridi alias Jaweed, who was arrested last month from the City has

reportedly identified himself in a video grab.

The alleged Church Street blast prime accused Rafeeq alias Alam Jeb Afridi alias Jaweed, who was arrested last month by the National Investigation Agency has reportedly identified himself in the video grab, which was released by the agency days before his arrest for identification of the suspected youth in the video footage, official sources told this newspaper.

“Afridi confessed he was behind making and planting the improvised explosive device at the behest of his remote handler using the online site — ‘Justpaste.it.’ He had learnt to make the IED from the online site and sourced the material from the city,” said an official source. He added that Afridi was also in touch with the Daesh sympathiser Mohammed Nafees Khan, 24, from Hyderabad, who was reportedly motivated by Armar Shafi alias ‘Gumnam of Syria’ using ‘Justpaste.it.

“We suspect Shafi was also behind the Church Street blast and motivated Afridi to carry out the attack. Afridi and Nafees, who is allegedly the ‘head of finance’ of Daeshinspired ‘Janood-ulkhalifa-al-Hind’ were planning to join Daesh in Syria,” added the officer. He was arrested in Hyderabad in January.