Seven bombs hit Ahmedabad, two killed

Enlarge Photo Traffic moves on a street in Ahmedabad in this February 21, 2006 file photo. REUTERS/Amit...

Sat, Jul 26 08:42 PM

By Rupam Jain Nair

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - At least seven small bombs exploded in Ahmedabad on Saturday, killing at least two people and wounding 55, just a day after another set of blasts in the country's southern IT hub, officials said.

On Friday, eight bombs exploded in quick succession in Bangalore, killing at least one person and wounding six others.

Saturday's blasts were in the Ahmedabad's crowded old city dominated by its Muslim community. One was left in a metal tiffin box, used to carry food, another apparently left on a bicycle.

"We have been told of seven to eight blasts," the central government's junior home minister Shriprakash Jaiswal told the Sahara news channel.

"These were low-intensity bombs," he said. "This has been done by some terrorist group which wants to destabilise the country."

Another junior home minister, Shakeel Ahmad said at least two people had been killed and 55 wounded and taken to hospital.

"The government had received a threat e-mail and we are probing into it," local state government Home Minister Amit Shah told Reuters.

One television channel showed a bus with its side blown up, shattered windows and the roof half-destroyed. Another showed a dead dog, with blood nearby, lying beside a blownup bicycle.

Ahmedabad is the main city in the communally sensitive and relatively wealthy Gujarat, scene of deadly riots in 2002 in which 2,500 people are thought to have died, most of them Muslims killed by rampaging Hindu mobs.

Both states targeted in the bomb attacks are ruled by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and are among the country's fastest-growing.

Suspicion is already falling on Islamist militants intent on destabilising India by fanning tensions between Hindus and Muslims, and police were swiftly deployed in Ahmedabad on Saturday to maintain calm.

INVESTIGATIONS IN BANGALORE

So far though, police say they have few leads into Friday's Bangalore bombings.

On Saturday, another unexploded bomb was found near a shopping mall in Bangalore, but it was unclear whether the bomb was newly planted or meant to have exploded during Friday's attacks, police said.

"Special squads have been formed to find out who is behind the blasts. We have not got any conclusive leads yet," Bangalore's Additional Commissioner of Police M.R. Pujar told Reuters on Saturday.

India has suffered a wave of bombings in recent years, with targets ranging from mosques and Hindu temples to trains.

It is unusual for any group to claim responsibility for attacks, but India says it suspects militant groups from neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh of helping to plan and carry out many of the attacks.

India's home ministry said on Friday it suspected "a small militant group" was behind the Bangalore attacks, while some police officials said they suspected the blasts could be the work of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India.

Some major IT companies in Bangalore, known as India's Silicon Valley, said they were increasing security at their offices after bombs went off there. Each bomb had a similar explosive force to one or two grenades.

The city is one of the world's most prominent centres for software development and is also home to a major outsourcing industry.

"We have increased security in our campus," said a spokeswoman for Infosys, one of India's leading software companies.

Also nicknamed the "world's back office", Bangalore has more than 1,500 top firms, including Infosys, Wipro and the offices of global firms such as Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp.

"If such incidents continue, investors will fly away from the city," said state opposition politician Mallikharjuna Kharge, who called for improved security in the city.

In May, eight bombs, many strapped to bicycles, ripped through a crowded shopping area in the western city of Jaipur, killing at least 63 people and injuring hundreds more.

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