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Serial blasts rattle Bangalore; woman killed

K.V. Subramanya and Sharat S. Srivatsa

Seven injured in the nine low intensity explosions; involvement of hard core terrorist groups ruled out

— Photos: K. Gopinathan, K. Murali Kumar

Fear over the city: The victim of the explosion at Madiwala in Bangalore on Friday. At right, Bangalore City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari at the blast site on the Bangalore-Mysore Highway.

BANGALORE: A series of low intensity blasts on Friday rocked the southern and central parts of Bangalore, a city that has of late been on the radar of terror groups. One person was killed and seven were injured in the explosions that created panic among residents and threw traffic out of gear on a rainy working day.

Nine explosions were reported within 45 minutes beginning at 1.15 p.m. Though the police have not ruled out the involvement of terrorist groups, Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar M. Bidari told presspersons that “miscreants” had triggered the blasts to “disrupt the peace” in the city. Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, after an emergency Cabinet meeting, announced that no “hard core terrorist group” was involved in the blasts which, he claimed, were carried out to “malign” the government.

“I heard a deafening explosion as I was starting my bike,” Vinay, an employee of a car showroom on Mysore Road told The Hindu. “I thought a bus tyre had burst until I saw smoke billowing from behind a bush. I ran back into the office,” he said.

According to police sources, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) fitted to timer devices were used in all the explosions. Preliminary investigations have revealed that ammonium nitrate, bolts and nuts and small cement chips were packed into the devices. Sources in the National Bomb Data Centre told The Hindu that the IEDs were almost identical to the ones used in the explosions at Mecca Masjid, Gokul Chats and Lumbini Park in Hyderabad, and the court blasts in Lucknow and Hubli.

The first explosion occurred at a bus stop near the Madivala check post, off the busy Hosur Road, around 1.15 p.m. Sudha Ravi, who was waiting for a bus with her husband, was killed on the spot, and two were injured. Two more explosives went off in the adjoining Audugodi area, injuring three persons.

Similar low intensity explosions took place at three places on Mysore Road and two spots in the heart of the city — near the hi-tech Mallya Hospital and near Rashtriya Military School on Langford Road. One explosion took place on Sarjapur Road near the Ayyappan temple.

At Audugodi, the explosives were planted behind a telephone junction box near a commercial complex under construction and another near a storm water drain. On Mysore Road, the explosives were placed under a power supply transformer near a mall; one near a storm water drain; and the third near a car showroom next to the Regional Transport Office.

Situation under review

Vinay Kumar reports from New Delhi:

The Union Home Ministry is closely monitoring the situation in Bangalore.

Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and other senior officials are in constant touch with Karnataka government officials, according to a Ministry spokesman here.

Mr. Gupta said senior State police and security officials were trying to ascertain the nature of the blasts which appeared to have been caused by some local criminal elements.

PM condemns blasts

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday condemned the serial bomb blasts in Bangalore and asked the people to remain calm and maintain communal harmony.

Dr. Singh sanctioned an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 1 lakh to the next of kin of those dead and Rs. 50,000 to those injured in the blasts.

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