New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) Investigators digging into the Red Fort bombing that claimed 13 lives have just hit a chilling new angle; the Jaish-e-Muhammad suicide attacker, Dr Umar Muhammad Nabi, might have pulled a classic “shoe-bomber” move straight out of a terrorist playbook.

Deep inside the charred remains of Dr Umar’s Hyundai i20, tucked under the driver’s seat near the right front wheel, cops found a lone shoe.

Forensic teams discovered a weird metallic residue inside it — something that looks an awful lot like the trigger component for the bomb.

Both the shoe and the car’s tyre tested positive for TATP (Triacetone triperoxide) – the infamous “Mother of Satan” explosive that goes off if you so much as sneeze on it.

It looks like Dr Umar may have hidden the detonator in his shoe and stomped (or pressed) his way to suicide.

The bomb itself was a nasty cocktail of TATP mixed with ammonium nitrate, and investigators say Jaish had hoarded a massive stash of the stuff for something big.

Scrapings from under the rear seat also turned up more explosive traces, hinting the car was basically a rolling bomb factory. An amount of Rs 20 lakh allegedly flowed to the terror cell through the arrested lady doctor Shaheen, who reportedly played banker for the Delhi strike.

The whole setup – explosives in footwear, TATP as the star ingredient – feels like a carbon copy of Richard Reid’s failed 2001 shoe-bomb plot on that Paris-to-Miami flight.

Agencies are quietly admitting the similarities are uncanny.

Sources say the busted Jaish module had a grander nightmare in mind, codenamed “D-6”; twin waves of attacks across multiple cities.

Plan A was timed for the Babri Masjid demolition anniversary and got crushed, and plan B was to blow up Delhi.

The probe is still raging on, with teams now trying to piece together exactly how Dr Umar turned his shoe into a dead-man’s switch.

–IANS

sktr/dan