New Delhi
26 July 2008
A day after serial bombings in India's high-tech hub, Bangalore, there
have been numerous blasts in Ahmedabad, western India's commercial and
cultural capital. Authorities report at least 29 people are dead and
more than 100 injured there following 16 separate explosions in and
around the capital of the state of Gujarat. VOA correspondent Steve
Herman reports from New Delhi.
As investigators in Bangalore
were seeking clues amid the debris from a series of low intensity
explosions there, a similar group of blasts hit another Indian city
Saturday evening.
The latest target: the capital of the state of
Gujarat. While only one person died in the Bangalore bombings, the
number of dead and injured in Ahmedabad is much higher. Authorities say
the explosive devices were placed in lunch canisters on bicycles which
were parked at crowded markets. One bomb also exploded at a trauma
center where some of the injured had been taken.
Television
stations say just before the first blast in Ahmedabad they had received
a 14-page long e-mail warning of an attack from a group calling itself
"Indian Mujahedin." The little-known group has previously claimed
responsibility for bomb blasts in other cities.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil says whatever resources are needed to render aid and investigate the attacks will be committed.
The
cabinet minister says whether it is Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore or
Ahmedabad the government will not play the blame game because to do
that will not help the people.
His comments are a reference to
the finger-pointing between the national and state governments over
accusations they are not doing enough to prevent such attacks.
Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh has called for Indians to "maintain communal
harmony." The fear is if radical Islamic groups are blamed for the bomb
blasts that Hindu activists may attack minority Muslims in retaliation.
Gujarat is especially sensitive because six years ago more than 1,000 people died there during rioting between Hindus and
Muslims which threw the entire state into chaos for weeks.