More Deadly Bomb Blasts Rock India | Voice of America - English
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 Bangalorewere seeking clues amid the debris from a series of low intensityexplosions there, a similar group of blasts hit another Indian citySaturday evening. The latest target: the capital of the state ofGujarat. While only one person died in the Bangalore bombings, thenumber of dead and injured in Ahmedabad is much higher. Authorities saythe explosive devices were placed in lunch canisters on bicycles whichwere parked at crowded markets. One bomb also exploded at a traumacenter where some of the injured had been taken. Televisionstations say just before the first blast in Ahmedabad they had receiveda 14-page long e-mail warning of an attack from a group calling itself"Indian Mujahedin." The little-known group has previously claimedresponsibility 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. Thecabinet minister says whether it is Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore orAhmedabad the government will not play the blame game because to dothat will not help the people. His comments are a reference tothe finger-pointing between the national and state governments overaccusations they are not doing enough to prevent such attacks. PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh has called for Indians to "maintain communalharmony." The fear is if radical Islamic groups are blamed for the bombblasts 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 andMuslims which threw the entire state into chaos for weeks.