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Serial blasts rattle Bangalore; woman killed

K.V. Subramanya and Sharath S. Srivatsa

Seven injured in eight low-intensity explosions; residents panic, traffic thrown out of gear

— 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 eight explosions that created panic among residents and threw traffic out of gear on a rainy working day.

The explosions were reported within 45 minutes from 1.15 p.m. Though the police have not ruled out the involvement of terrorist groups, Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar M. Bidari told journalists 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 revealed that ammonium nitrate, bolts and nuts and 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 the Mecca Masjid, Gokul Chats and the Lumbini Park in Hyderabad, and in the court blasts in Lucknow and Hubli.

The first explosion occurred at a bus stop near the Madivala checkpost, 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 at two spots in the heart of the city — near the Mallya Hospital and near the Rashtriya Military School on Langford Road.

At Audugodi, the explosives were planted behind a telephone junction box near a commercial complex under construction and another near a stormwater drain.

On Mysore Road, the explosives were placed under a power supply transformer near a mall; one near a stormwater drain; and the third near a car showroom next to the Regional Transport Office.

A high alert has been sounded across the State.

Blasts condemned

PTI reports from New Delhi:

President Pratibha Patil, Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts.

Ms. Patil expressed deep shock at the loss of lives, saying the blast was aimed at disturbing peace in the country.

Mr. Ansari said such acts were intended to disturb peace which should be thwarted through national resolves to maintain peace and harmony.

Dr. Singh asked the people to remain calm and maintain communal harmony. He sanctioned an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 1 lakh to the relatives of the dead woman and Rs. 50,000 to those injured in the blasts.

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