Vorig jaar november waren we er nog op vakantie…..

Na de negen bommen die gisteren in Bangalore ontploften
en het leven kosten aan twee mensen was het vandaag
de hoofdstad van Gujarat die getroffen werd.
Zeventien bommen gingen binnen een tijdsbestek van 70 min af in Ahmedabad.
Zeker 29 mensen hebben de aanslagen niet overleefd,
meer dan honderd zijn gewond geraakt.
De vraag die iedereen zich nu stelt is of de aanslagen met elkaar te maken hebben
en natuurlijk of er meer zullen volgen.
CNN meld dat enkele minuten voor de aanslagen verschillende mediastations
een email ontvingen waarin een groep die zichzelf Indian Mujahideen noemen
waarschuwden voor een mogelijke aanslag.
De aanslagen in beide steden lijken verdacht veel op elkaar.

Van India.blog.nl, 26/07/2008

Death toll in Ahmedabad blasts rises to 45

The death toll from yesterday’s wave of bombings
in the Indian city of Ahmedabad has risen to 45,
a government official said today.

Jaynarayan Vyas said 161 people were injured
when 16 separate small bombs went off in several parts of the city,
which has a history of violent clashes between the Hindu majority
and Muslim minority.
He also said that 30 people had been arrested in connection with the explosions,
which came a day after seven synchronised explosions
rocked the southern city of Bangalore,
the hub of India’s burgeoning information technology industry,
killing two and wounding five others.

Yesterday’s attacks in Ahmedabad happened in two waves
early in the evening local time.
Some of the devices were hidden in lunchboxes or bicycles.
The first series exploded near busy market places.
The second, about 20 minutes later, went off in and around a hospital
where casualties were being taken.
At least six people died there.

‘We saw a blue bag near the trauma centre,
and before we could react we saw it explode in a shine of blinding light,
and some 40 people were hit by flying shrapnel,’
said Vipul Patil, a doctor at the Dhanwantari hospital.

The side of a bus was blown off and its windows shattered
while another vehicle was engulfed in flames.

Prithviraj Chavan, a junior in the prime minister’s office,
called yesterday’s bombings “deplorable” and said they were set off
by people “bent upon creating a communal divide in the country”.
That is the sort of language officials tend to use when blaming Islamic militants
suspected of being behind a series of coordinated bomb attacks
across the country in recent years.
Targets have included mosques, Hindu temples and trains.

‘Anti-national elements have been trying to create panic
among the people of our country.
[The] blasts in Ahmadebad seem to be part of the same strategy,’
the federal home minister, Shivraj Patil, said.

Several television stations said they had received an email
claiming responsibility from a group called the Indian Mujahideen
at the time of yesterday’s blasts.
The same group said it was behind bombs in Jaipur,
western India, in May that killed more than 60 people.
The email made no mention of Friday’s bombings in Bangalore,
according to reports.

Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat state,
which includes Ahmedabad, condemned the blasts as
“a crime against humanity” and said the group or groups behind them were
“using a similar modus operandi all over the country”.
The state government home Minister Amit Shah said:
“The government had received a threat email, and we are probing it.”

Tension between Hindus and Muslims is acute in Gujarat,
a relatively wealthy state.
It was the scene of riots in 2002 that left about 2,500 people dead.
They were triggered by a fire on a train packed with Hindu pilgrims
that killed 60 passengers.
The cause was never proven, but Hindu extremists blamed the deaths
on Muslims and reacted by rampaging through Muslim areas.

guardian.co.uk, 27/07/2008.