Bangalore: Terrorists struck in Bangalore on Wednesday, blasting explosives hidden in a motorcycle parked outside the Karnataka BJP headquarters that was teeming with people on the last day to file nominations for the assembly elections two weeks later. At least 16 people, including 11 police constables and two women college students, were wounded but doctors said none of the injuries was life-threatening.
Police said the explosion triggered a blaze that gutted two cars and two scooters parked adjacent to the bomb-laden bike with Tamil Nadu licence plates, which were unlikely to be genuine. The impact of the blast shattered glass panes in several buildings and sent people fleeing from offices and homes.
The improvised explosive device was kept less than 50 feet from the BJP HQ in Jagannath Bhavan in Malleswaram, one of the garden city’s oldest and coveted residential neighbourhoods. Home ministry sources confirmed Bangalore’s assessment that the blast was a terror attack and said it bore hallmarks of the Indian Mujahideen-.National Investigation Agency teams from Hyderabad and Delhi as well as experts from NSG were already in Bangalore. Officials said there was no intelligence about a possible terror strike in Bangalore.
Preliminary investigation by the local police revealed that terrorists had stuffed at least 500 grams of ammonium nitrate in a pipe that they fitted onto the bike. The explosion, triggered by a timer, reduced the bike to mangled metal.
As a Maruti Omni, Hyundai Santro, Honda Dio and Bajaj Chetak went up in flames, the shockwaves unleashed by the explosive shattered the windowpanes of at least 20 houses, commercial buildings and the BJP office. The blast was heard as far as 1-km away. Two fire engines extinguished the blaze in 20 minutes.
Shakeel tweet leaves Cong embarrassed
Congress was left red-faced after its spokesman Shakeel Ahmed tweeted that the blast close to BJP office will help the party in Karnataka polls. After BJP dubbed the comment was “inhuman”, Congress said it did not share Ahmed’s views. TNN Blast comes exactly 3 yrs after stadium explosion
Bangalore:The blast came exactly three years after low-intensity explosions at the Chinnaswamy Stadium ahead of an IPL match. There were no fatalities but that attack had left several injured.
Senior intelligence officers, however, said poor execution ruled out the involvement of any big-time terror module. One theory was that the attack could have been carried out by locals or politically motivated individuals. Because the bomb was not packed with nails, nuts and screws, the shrapnel of choice, some felt there was no hard evidence yet of an IM operation.
The casualties would have been higher had the blast occurred during the evening, when scores of people visit the many temples in the vicinity.Further, with elections approaching, there would have been hectic activity in Jagannath Bhavan.
Police commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar said, “The miscreants hid the explosive in a motorbike parked outside a three-storey residential building opposite the BJP office. It was a low-intensity bomb.”
V Sreenivas, who lives in a building adjacent to the BJP office, said he was in the living room when he heard a loud noise. “There were palpable shockwaves. Power went off and came back in a few seconds. The floor shook, and the TV stand moved a few inches. All windowpanes were shattered, and the floor was full of glass shards.
Police said the explosion triggered a blaze that gutted two cars and two scooters parked adjacent to the bomb-laden bike with Tamil Nadu licence plates, which were unlikely to be genuine. The impact of the blast shattered glass panes in several buildings and sent people fleeing from offices and homes.
The improvised explosive device was kept less than 50 feet from the BJP HQ in Jagannath Bhavan in Malleswaram, one of the garden city’s oldest and coveted residential neighbourhoods. Home ministry sources confirmed Bangalore’s assessment that the blast was a terror attack and said it bore hallmarks of the Indian Mujahideen-.National Investigation Agency teams from Hyderabad and Delhi as well as experts from NSG were already in Bangalore. Officials said there was no intelligence about a possible terror strike in Bangalore.
Preliminary investigation by the local police revealed that terrorists had stuffed at least 500 grams of ammonium nitrate in a pipe that they fitted onto the bike. The explosion, triggered by a timer, reduced the bike to mangled metal.
As a Maruti Omni, Hyundai Santro, Honda Dio and Bajaj Chetak went up in flames, the shockwaves unleashed by the explosive shattered the windowpanes of at least 20 houses, commercial buildings and the BJP office. The blast was heard as far as 1-km away. Two fire engines extinguished the blaze in 20 minutes.
Shakeel tweet leaves Cong embarrassed
Congress was left red-faced after its spokesman Shakeel Ahmed tweeted that the blast close to BJP office will help the party in Karnataka polls. After BJP dubbed the comment was “inhuman”, Congress said it did not share Ahmed’s views. TNN Blast comes exactly 3 yrs after stadium explosion
Bangalore:The blast came exactly three years after low-intensity explosions at the Chinnaswamy Stadium ahead of an IPL match. There were no fatalities but that attack had left several injured.
Senior intelligence officers, however, said poor execution ruled out the involvement of any big-time terror module. One theory was that the attack could have been carried out by locals or politically motivated individuals. Because the bomb was not packed with nails, nuts and screws, the shrapnel of choice, some felt there was no hard evidence yet of an IM operation.
The casualties would have been higher had the blast occurred during the evening, when scores of people visit the many temples in the vicinity.Further, with elections approaching, there would have been hectic activity in Jagannath Bhavan.
Police commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar said, “The miscreants hid the explosive in a motorbike parked outside a three-storey residential building opposite the BJP office. It was a low-intensity bomb.”
V Sreenivas, who lives in a building adjacent to the BJP office, said he was in the living room when he heard a loud noise. “There were palpable shockwaves. Power went off and came back in a few seconds. The floor shook, and the TV stand moved a few inches. All windowpanes were shattered, and the floor was full of glass shards.
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