Forensic experts have confirmed that the explosive used in Sunday’s Church Street blast was an eight-inch aluminium pipe bomb.

“Investigation is looking into whether the terror attack was the handiwork of [a] fugitive SIMI module,” Chief Minister Siddaramiah said here on Monday.

Investigators said the blast bore similarities with the Chennai Central Station attack in May, and a blast in Pune in July.

Investigators also found a small piece of paper with a Warangal number on it. The number is being verified, and a police team has left for Andhra Pradesh.

Police are looking for clues in images from 11 CCTV cameras in the vicinity of the blast.

Police teams from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have joined the Bangalore police in the investigations, in addition to the National Investigation Agency.

Security agencies suspect the involvement of a SIMI module of five activists who had escaped from Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa district jail in October 2013.

 According to sources, there had been a specific intelligence alert from the Intelligence Bureau in the first week of December alerting the State that two of the five fugitives were last seen in Hosapete of Ballari district in September.

Youth claims responsibility on Twitter

A Twitter handle @LatestAbdul claimed responsibility for Sunday’s bomb blast on Church Street. The tweets were sent to regional news channels on Monday. He has challenged the police to catch him and signed off as ISIS. Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi told The Hindu that the claim would be looked into, but added that not much credibility was being given to such claims. A lot of fake Twitter handles had been set up and they were creating a nuisance, he added. The 17-year-old, allegedly operating the Twitter handle, has been picked up from west Bengaluru.

Top developments

Bhavani Devi, the 38-year-old woman who succumbed to injuries in Sunday’s Bengaluru blast, was a resident of Triplicane, Chennai.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announces a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh for the family of the deceased Bhavani Devi.

An NIA team, led by a Deputy Superintendent of Police, sent to the blast site.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh extends assistance to Karnataka in dealing with the situation arising out of the blast.

Suspicion has fallen on a group of six SIMI activists led by Abu Faisal, arrested for communal violence and SIMI links in 2011, who fled from the Madhya Pradesh prison on October 1, 2013.