Description

Seven bombs ripped through the crowded streets of India's western city of Jaipur on Tuesday evening, May 13th 2008, killing around 60 people in markets and outside Hindu temples. The bombs, many strapped to bicycles, exploded within minutes of each other in Jaipur's pink walled city, a magnet for foreign tourists. It was the deadliest bomb attack in India in nearly two years. Around 150 people were wounded and local television stations broadcast appeals for blood donations.

Police officers said no group had admitted responsibility for the blasts. Television channels quoted government and intelligence officials as blaming Pakistani or Bangladeshi Islamist militant groups. "According to the information I have received 60 people have died and 150 have been injured," Rajasthan's Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying. The state's home minister, Gulab Chand Kataria, said there were at least 55 deaths. "At around 7.30 there was a big noise and suddenly I found people in a pool of blood," said Govind Sharma, a priest at a Hindu temple, through tears. "I've lost my father in the bomb blast." Officials said the apparent motive for the bombs was to undermine a peace process between India and Pakistan or foment communal violence in India.

Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee is due to visit Islamabad in just over a week to review the four-year-old peace process, his first since a new, civilian government took over in Pakistan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed for calm. The British and U.S. governments said there could be no justification for killing innocent people.

Problems

At the main government hospital in Jaipur, more than 100 people crowded around the doors of the emergency ward, many screaming for information about their relatives. Police officers at the doors yelled for people to give blood. "I've come here to locate my son," said Shabnam Bano, in tears. "He had gone to the bazaar but has not returned."

Inside the ward, cleaners frantically tried to mop up blood that had pooled in the main corridors. Police and state government officials say some or all of the bombs were left on bicycles and detonated using timers. An eighth bomb was defused by police. Officials said they were not aware of any foreigners being killed.

Two bombs were planted near Hindu temples, where large crowds gather every Tuesday in honor of the monkey god Hanuman.  "It was obviously a terror attack," A.S. Gill, Director General of Police in the state of Rajasthan, told reporters close to the scene of one of the blasts. The blasts come just a few days after fresh firing along the border between India and Pakistan in disputed Kashmir. India said Islamist militants had been trying to sneak in. "There could be a conspiracy behind this," Shriprakash Jaiswal, India's junior home minister, was quoted by television stations as saying. He did not blame any one group or country. Alerts were issued in the Indian capital New Delhi and the financial capital of Mumbai.

In the past few years a string of bomb blasts in Indian cities have killed hundreds of people. The deadliest was in July 2006, when seven bombs exploded on Mumbai's railway system killing more than 180 people. Last August, three bombs killed 38 people at an amusement park and a street-side food stall in Hyderabad, a city in southern India which is home to a booming outsourcing industry. Cinemas, markets and places of worship have also been targeted in recent years.

HuJI

 Banned Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI), operating from Bangladesh, is believed to be behind the serial blasts that rocked the tourist city of Jaipur on Tuesday evening, killing nearly 50 people besides injuring several others. Though baffled by the attack as Jaipur was not on the terror radar, sources said the tell-tale signs of the blasts indicate HuJI's hand.

The blasts showed that HuJI, which is being mainly run from Bangladesh, has managed to establish cells in Rajasthan and that the outfit was responsible for previous major terror attacks including the New Year eve attack on CRPF camp in Rampur and serial blasts in three other places in Uttar Pradesh. The last terror strike in Rajasthan occurred on October 11, 2007 when an explosion in the Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer left two persons dead and 17 others injured.

HuJI outfit, suspected to be behind the blast at the sufi shrine, had used a mixture of Tri-Nitro Toluene (TNT) as the explosive material. In Tuesday's blasts also, pieces of iron pipe were used by militants as splinters that pierced through victims at the crowded places in the Pink city.

The sources did not rule out the possibility that banned HuJI may have been supported by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) which has been attempting to target tourist destinations and places of economic interests. The intelligence agencies have already started analysing STD and international calls made out of Jaipur during the last 48 hours.

The Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HuJI) was established in 1992. The outfit's activities, however, were noticed in June 1996 after the Awami League came to power in Bangladesh. The outfit wants to establish an Islamic Caliphate. They have links with the Al-Qaida. HuJI was blamed for the July 2004 attempt on Sheikh Hasina's life, leader of the Awami League. In India, they were thought to have links to the attack on the American Centre in Kolkata in 2002, in which five policemen were killed.

Eyewitness

Severed limbs, mangled heaps of cycle rickshaws, bicycles and smashed windescreens of cars turned the crowded markets crammed with peak-time shoppers in the walled part of the Pink City into a virtual war zone minutes after serial bomb blasts were set off by terrorists. ''We heard a big sound and what was left was a plume of smoke and blood all around,'' said an injured eyewitness as he was stretchered to a hospital.

Utter chaos and panic prevailed soon after the blasts took place in a span of 20 minutes. Scores of wounded people were ferried to three hospitals soon after blasts hit at Tripolia Bazar, where a large number of devotees turned up at a Hanuman temple, Johari Bazar, Manank Chowk, Badi Choupad and Choti Choupad in the walled part of the city.

It is for the first time that the tourist hotspot, Jaipur has figured on terror hit list. Within minutes of the blast, one could see siren blaring ambulances and vehicles zipping thorugh the bylanes. The blasts triggered a near-stampede situation at the blast sites as panic-stricken people ran helter skelter in search of a safe place. People were also seen carrying the injured as the number of ambulances fell far short of the requirement. The nearby hospitals were crowded as relatives thronged to look for their near and dear ones.

Nation-wide Alert

The Union Home Ministry on Tuesday night sounded a nation-wide alert following the serial bomb blasts in Jaipur killing over two dozen and injuring scores. ''The Home Ministry is keeping a close watch on the situation in the Pink City,'' a senior MHA official said, adding that an alert has been sounded in all states. Senior Home Ministry officials, including Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, immediately got in touch with the state government and asked them to beef up security arrangements.

Terrorists set off six bomb blasts at crowded markets in the Walled City within a span of ten minutes killing and wounding several people. MHA spokesman said Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who was on a two-day visit to Northeast, condemned the blasts. He was also in touch with his ministry officials. Bomb data squad of the elite National Security Guards has been rushed to the Pink City.

High alert in Delhi

Security has been beefed up at sensitive points in the national capital, especially at the Metro stations and crowded market places. ''An alert has been sounded in the wake of the series of blasts in Jaipur,'' Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said. Additional police personnel were deployed along with bomb disposal squads at Delhi Metro stations, railway stations and inter-state bus terminals. ''An extra security cover has been extended to all the religious places, including the Jama Masjid, Akshardham and Iskcon temples,'' the spokesman said.

Police erected road barricades at various intersections and sniffer dogs were deployed at railway stations. Metal detectors were in place at entry points in busy markets and security agencies were keeping a close watch over all VIP areas. In Jaipur, at least six people were feared dead and 10 injured in a series of blasts at Johri Bazar, Tripolia Bazar, Manik Chowk, and Hunuman Mandir in Sanganeri Gate area of the city.

Haryana on red alert

The Haryana government on Tuesday sounded a red alert in the wake of multiple explosions in Jaipur. Haryana Police Chief RS Dalal said the red alert has been sound as a precautionary measure. In Punjab, all district police chiefs have been directed by state Police Chief NPS Aulakh to step up vigil.

Vigil in AP

Andhra Pradesh police have stepped up vigil in the city following serial blasts in Jaipur. Deployment of policemen at sensitive places has been enhanced and various measures including frisking, checking intensified, police said. The police were taking precautions also in view of the first anniversary of the Mecca masjid blast on May 17. Vigil has been stepped up at public places including railway stations, bus depots and places of worship.

Alert in West Bengal

An alert was sounded in West Bengal on Tuesday in view of the serial blasts at Jaipur this evening. ''We have sounded an alert and police deployment has been increased at important installations including railway stations, airports and markets,'' IGP (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said. Vigil has also been increased at all public places, he added.

France

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has expressed revulsion at bomb blasts in Jaipur that claimed at least 60 lives, and offered to step up help to India in fighting terrorism. ''I wish to express my indignation and repugnance at the wave of attacks that have plunged the city of Jaipur into mourning,'' he said in a statement. ''France is more than ever willing to intensify cooperation with India in the anti-terrorist struggle,'' said Kouchner following the blasts in Jaipur. ''Today we are at the side of India and the Indian people in the face of this inconceivable horror. We wish to assure the Indian government of our full support,'' said the minister.

USA

The United States has strongly condemned the bomb attacks in Jaipur that left at least 60 people dead and over 200 injured saying they were ''intended to claim innocent lives''. ''We are still collecting some information about this. But given the facts that we know now, quite clearly these bombs were intended to claim innocent life and it is something that we very clearly condemn,'' state department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

He said he had no information on whether US citizens were affected by the attacks. ''I can't offer you any more insight as to who might be responsible or who the victims were. I don't have any news reports of American citizens being affected by this,'' he added. When asked were the blasts handiwork of Al-Qaida, McCormack replied said he didn't know.

''As I understand it, based on the reports that we have, it is five or six bombs set off - timed to go off in a compressed period of time either in sequence or at the same time. Quite clearly an act designed to take innocent lives,'' the senior State department official added.