Counterterrorism Blog

After brief period of quiescence, mass fatality terror has returned to India. And this time, as usual, it caught the security force, intelligence agencies napping. On May 13, around nine high to low intensity blasts took place at six places within a span of 15 minutes in the pink city of Jaipur, state capital of Rajasthan. All blasts occurred within a radius of one kilometer, hitting crowded markets, places of worships and one eatery. The explosions have killed more than 60 people (as of now) and nearly 200 sustained severe to minor injuries, presently languishing in crammed city hospitals. The epicenters are Tripolia market, Manek Chowk, Chandpol Gate, Lakshmi Mishthan Bhandar, Johri Bazaar, Sanganeri Gate in the walled part of the state capital. At least four more live bombs found in these areas and later diffused safely.

The government though not ruled out the use of military explosives in these blasts (e.g.RDX), enough evidence of cocktail bombs emerged during initial mopping of the blast sites. Mobile phones, Iron pipes, wires and plastic substances, splinters and timer devices found with mangled bicycles and bikes. Looking at these findings, fingers of suspicion pointed at the Islamic terror alliance: Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI)- Lashkar e Toiba- Student Islamic Movements of India (SIMI). HujI has revolutionized use of mobile phones, commercial explosives and chemicals (Neogel-90) in most of terror strikes recently, e.g. in Mecca mosque blasts in Hyderabad last year.

Last October (2007) for the first time, terror struck Rajasthan when an explosion at the famous Ajmer Sheriff (Dargah of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti ) in Ajmer that left two persons dead and over 15 others injured.

Pictures

Blasts rocks the Pink City

Serial blasts leave trail of destruction

Chronology of major bomb attacks in India 2005-2008
(Courtesy: Economic Times)

• November 23, 2007: At least 13 people were killed from serial blasts outside courts in three north Indian cities and 40 people wounded following a threatening email sent to television channels just minutes before the blasts.
• August 25, 2007: At least 43 people killed and more than 70 others injured as two bombs rock a crowded outdoor auditorium and a popular eatery in the southern city of Hyderabad.
• May 18, 2007: At least 10 killed and more than a dozen injured in blast at 17th century Mecca mosque in Hyderabad. Five more killed when police fire at Muslim protesters.
• February 19, 2007: Sixty-eight people killed and dozens more injured after four explosions on board the Lahore-bound Samjhauta Express.
• September 8, 2006: Thirty-eight people killed and more than 100 injured in three nearly simultaneous blasts, including one in a mosque, in the town of Malegaon in Maharashtra state.
• July 11, 2006: Seven bomb blasts in a period of 11 minutes on Mumbai's suburban trains. A total of 186 people were killed and more than 800 injured.
• April 14, 2006: Fourteen people, including a woman and a girl, injured in two explosions at New Delhi's Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque, after Friday evening prayers.
• March 7, 2006: Twenty-eight killed and 62 injured after three bombs rip through the holy city of Varanasi. The first blast hit a Hindu temple, the second a railway station and the third a train.
• October 29, 2005: More than 60 people killed and nearly 200 injured when three bombs explode ahead of the major Hindu festival of Diwali in New Delhi.