Five out of seven members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), who escaped from Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa jail on October 1 last year, have emerged as key suspects in the low intensity bomb blast that struck Bengaluru on Sunday night.

The five SIMI men are: Shaikh Mehboob (25), Amjad (25), Mohammed Aslam (26), Mohammed Aijajuddin (30) and Zakir Hussain (32). Pictures of these five persons were circulated between investigating agencies and Karnataka Police probing the case.

Bhavani, a 38-year-old woman from Chennai, died in Sunday’s blast, while five others sustained injuries.

Top sources said that the five stayed at rented houses in Karnataka’s Dharwad, Yadgir and Hospet area between December 2013 and September 2014. Officials said that their priority is to identify if they were associated with any local SIMI cadre during their stay.

Meanwhile, MoS for Home, Kiren Rijiju, said that the blast is a ‘terror attack’ possibly carried out by SIMI.

"Definitely, it is a terror attack. We have to see the link, if it's the same module which is working there... Possibility is there but unless it is established completely in that direction, we cannot move or make any statement. But, there is a possibility,” he told reporters yesterday in Delhi when asked about the involvement of SIMI in the attack.

Police said that these five were linked to a robbery of Rs 46 lakh from an SBI branch in Telangana’s Karimnagar district earlier this year. Besides, they are also linked to Bengaluru-Guwahati Express blast in May, blast near Dagadusheth Ganesh Temple in Pune in July and accidental blast in Bijnor in September.

Cops are awaiting a forensic report to assess the kind of explosive used in Sunday’s blast, an official said.

On the other hand, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Kolkata have been put on high alert following the blast ahead of New Year's eve.