Eight bomb blasts triggered by terrorists over just 12 minutes on Wednesday night killed at least 60 people in the heart of Jaipur and injured 200.
The explosions, the first terror strikes in the Pink City, occurred in markets usually teeming with people and near the Hanuman Mandir in the walled city.
The bombings took place as India marked the 10th anniversary of nuclear tests conducted on May 13 in Rajasthan, but it was unclear if there was any link.
“According to the information I have received, 60 people have died and 150 have been injured,” said the Rajasthan chief minister, Ms Vasundhara Raje.
The Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HuJI) is suspected to be behind the blasts, home ministry sources said.
The sources ruled out the use of RDX in the carefully orchestrated low-intensity explosions, which were suspected to have been set off from cycles in areas frequented by tourists, including near the historic Hawa Mahal.
The blasts took place at Tripolia Bazar, Johari Bazar, Manas Chowk, Badi Choupal and Choti Choupal, all located within a two-km radius in the old city. Inspector-general of police (Jaipur) Pankaj Singh said in all there were eight blasts, a couple of them in the same area.
The police said one explosive device was defused by the bomb disposal squad near the Hanuman temple.
One of the blasts took place in a car and another near a handloom shop in Kotwali area of the city, home department sources said. Most of the injured were rushed to Sawai Man Singh hospital. The bodies of several victims lay strewn in the corridors of hospitals. The blasts triggered a near-stampede situation at the blast sites, which were crammed with peak-hour shoppers as panic-stricken people ran helter-skelter in search of a safe place.
Doctors said many of the victims of Tuesday’s blasts had shrapnel injuries. They feared that the toll may rise further.
The bomb explosions left blood splattered on the street and cycles and rickshaws in a mangled heap, television showed. “It’s a terror attack.
There was no (intelligence) report of this,” the Rajasthan director-general of police, Mr A.S. Gill, told reporters.
The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, condemned the blasts and appealed for calm.
Jaipur, which has a population of more than two million, is one of the nation’s top tourist resorts and a favourite attraction for foreigners.
State borders were sealed and a high alert sounded in Fol lowing the serial bomb blasts in Jaipur, Rajasthan, the city police and intelligence agencies are probing the possible links with twin blasts in the city with emergence of some similarities.
Interestingly, the twin blasts that occurred on August 25 last year at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat Bhandar happened between 7.25 pm and 7.35 pm. The Jaipur serial blasts took place around the same time.
The task force office human bomb blast at Hyderabad in October 2005 too happened at about the same time. Both the task force office and twin blasts were carried out by Harkat-Ul Jehad-e-Islami. State intelligence agencies said that they are yet to get official communication of the explosive used in the Jaipur serial blasts though it is being suspected that RDX was used in Jaipur.
“Once the exact details of the explosives used in the blasts emerge then possible links between city and Jaipur blasts can be established. As of now, there has been no alert or inputs from the Intelligence Bureau in the Centre to the states. We are coordinating with our Rajasthan counterparts to establish any possible links,” sources in state intelligence agency said.
Sources said that the pre liminary information was that timers were used in the Jaipur blasts. The city police is trying to find out if they were the same as the ones used in twin blasts here.
Iron ball bearings were reportedly used in the Jaipur blasts. In the twin blasts too, iron bearings were used as splinters in the Improvised Explosive Device.
The state intelligence wing has got the Intelligence Security Wing (ISW) to put on alert places of worship.
Intelligence agencies are on the tenterhooks as the Jaipur blasts come days ahead of the first anniversary of Mecca Masjid blast.
City police commissioner B. Prasada Rao said that an alert had been sounded and security checks would be carried out extensively.