Anil Rana
GANDHINAGAR, July 26: Shattering almost six years of peace, 16 blasts ripped across Gujarat's capital tonight in a space of 70 minutes, leaving 29 dead and 88 injured, a day after multiple explosions rocked Bangalore in another BJP-ruled state. An e-mail signed by Mohammad Shameem, a listed Huji activist, was sent to the Intelligence Bureau from the little-known outfit, Indian Mujahedeen, which claimed responsibility for today's blasts. The same group had claimed to have triggered blasts in Jaipur and Uttar Pradesh (chart right).
The bombs went off mainly in crowded bazars of Ahmedabad, and are suspected to have been planted in bicycles. Four of them were detonated on the premises of two hospitals where the injured were taken. The first blast rocked Maninagar ~ chief minister Mr Narendra Modi's constituency ~ at 6.45 p.m.
One bomb was detonated on a CNG bus at Sarkhej. Ishanpur, Narol, Saraspur, Thakkarnagar, Jawahar Chowk, Bapunagar, Harketshwar, Odhav, Amrasoli, Raipur, Sardar Patel junction, Juhapura and Sattar Bapunagar were the other localities rocked by the explosions. Though the blasts were triggered in communally-sensitive localities, peace prevailed. The chief minister's office managed to send out SMSs urging peace before cellphones were jammed and a red alert sounded in the city.
Some 40 minutes after the first bomb had exploded, another went off at the car park of LG Hospital in Maninagar even as the injured persons were being brought in. VS Hospital and Civil Hospital were the other two places the injured persons were taken to and bombs were detonated near the trauma centre and the emergency ward of Civil Hospital. Reports say blasts here killed at least six people. The area was cordorned off, as police suspected more bombs had been planted on the hospital premises.
President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts. Union home minister Mr Shivraj Patil convened a high-level meeting for tomorrow morning to review the security situation across the country. Mr Modi, who confirmed the casualty figure, condemned the blasts and appealed for calm. His party leader and MP for Gandhinagar, Mr LK Advani, blamed the Centre for the rise in terror activities but refused to draw conclusions about two BJP-ruled states ~ Gujarat and Karnataka ~ being targeted in a row. Home secretary Mr Madhukar Gupta said in New Delhi that National Security Guards were being rushed to Ahmedabad where RAF personnel were already deployed.
The Ahmedabad blasts came a day after multiple explosions in Bangalore where Karnataka police suspected the involvement of the banned Simi in yesterday's serial blasts as it defused a live bomb secreted in a cement flowerpot near a shopping mall in the posh Koramangla area today. Confirming this, Bangalore police commissioner Mr Shankar Bidri today said police were yet to establish the motive for yesterday's low-intensity blasts.
www.thestatesman.net
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