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Bangalore police defuse bomb at shopping mall
Indian police say they have defused a bomb near a popular mall in the southern city of Bangalore a day after seven synchronised blasts shook the city killing two people and wounding at least five others.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:24 July 26, 2008
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New Delhi: Indian police say they have defused a bomb near a popular mall in the southern city of Bangalore a day after seven synchronised blasts shook the city killing two people and wounding at least five others.
Karnataka state's Director General of Police Srikumar, who goes by only one name, says the eighth bomb was found yesterday and defused outside Forum Mall in the state capital and high-tech hub.
Police officials said Friday that seven blasts went off within several minutes of each other at different spots across the city. One woman was killed immediately and a man died later of his injuries. There has been no claim of responsibility. Police were looking for clues to a "professional" string of the bombings.
"They appear to be the handiwork of professionals who have come prepared to cause the blasts," Srikumar said.
"The evidence from the blast site indicates the bombs were professionally assembled with mechanisms to trigger them remotely."
Srikumar added the death toll now stood at one, with seven wounded. Officials earlier said two had died in the bombings.
Quiet city
The city was quiet Saturday, with IT offices closed for the weekend, after the series of at least eight coordinated blasts.
Two of Friday's blasts occurred close to police facilities, a third bomb went off in an upmarket city-centre business district and another explosion targeted a district that houses several computer software firms.
Other blasts were reported from the southern suburbs of the religiously mixed and cosmopolitan city, which is the hub of India's burgeoning outsourcing and software industry, police said.
"The blasts were caused using gelatin sticks and timer devices," Bangalore city police commissioner Shankar Bidari said.
"The explosive materials were hidden in flower pots, in a road-side power transformer and in a blocked drain."
Karnataka state authorities appeared to be short of leads yesterday and have called for help from police in New Delhi, and offered a 100,000-rupee (Dh8,713) reward for anyone offering clues. So far none of India's various Islamist or Maoist militant groups has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the serial bomb blasts and urged residents to "remain calm and maintain communal harmony," a spokesman said in New Delhi Friday.
Bangalore, home to more than six million people and some 1,500 domestic and foreign firms, has been relatively free of the militant attacks that have plagued other parts of the country.
The central government holds a high-level meeting today to review the internal security situation, said Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil.
Patil said he is in touch with senior home ministry officials and the Director Intelligence Bureau and "monitoring and assessing the situation".
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