Bombings in Jaipur

[LordShiva]

[q=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7398989.stm]Bombings rock Indian tourist city

At least 60 people have been killed and more than 150 wounded after a series of bomb blasts tore through the city of Jaipur in western India, officials say.

The bombs went off near historic monuments in the crowded old city at one of the busiest times of the day.

The head of state police said it was a terrorist attack. Reports suggest the death toll could rise.

Jaipur, in Rajasthan, is a popular tourist destination about 260km (160 miles) from the Indian capital, Delhi.

No group has admitted planting bombs in Jaipur. It is not yet clear what the motive for attacking the city might be.

There have been sporadic bomb attacks around India in recent years. The police have had little success in bringing prosecutions.

Crowded markets

Up to seven blasts were heard in the heart of Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan state, starting at around 1915 local time (1345 GMT).

RECENT BOMB ATTACKS
August 2007: Bombs in open-air auditorium and restaurant in Hyderabad kill more than 40
May 2007: Bomb in historic Hyderabad mosque kills 14
February 2007: Twin blasts on train travelling from Delhi to Pakistan kills at least 66 people near Panipat
July 2006: More than 160 killed by seven bombs on train network in Mumbai
March 2006: Bombs at Hindu temple and railway station in Varanasi kill 15
October 2005: Three blasts in Delhi kill 62

Each came a few minutes apart and eyewitnesses spoke of panic and then a stampede in the crowded old walled city.

"According to the information I have received 60 people have died and 150 have been injured," said Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Police say seven bombs were placed in cars or shops, including in several markets. An eighth was defused.

One happened close to Jaipur's most famous landmark, the historic Hawa Mahal, or palace of winds.

"It's a terror attack. There was no [intelligence] report of this," police director general AS Gill told reporters.

Jaipur is an extremely popular stop on India's primary tourist circuit known as "The Golden Triangle", which takes in other historic sites of Rajasthan and the Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh state.

On Tuesdays many devotees flock to a popular shrine in Jaipur's old city. [/q]

Not a city that's traditionally been on teh terrorists' radar

[BeBMan]

[aneeshm]

Re: Bombings in Jaipur

Originally posted by LordShiva

Not a city that's traditionally been on teh terrorists' radar

They're targeting smaller cities, to make it known that they can strike anywhere at will.

[Zkribbler]

Incredible acts of cowardice and visciousness on the part of the terrorists.

[Arrian]

[Kuciwalker]

Is it just me, or have these attacks been picking up recently?

[LordShiva]

Is this something they teach at med school? x|

JAIPUR: It was a peculiar situation for doctors at the Sawai Mansingh hospital -- using the mobile phones of the dead to communicate the unfortunate news to their kins.

According to hospital sources, of nearly 20 bodies that were brought to the hospital, the mobile phones on three dead bodies started ringing.

The doctors, who had declared them brought dead, had to give this unfortunate news to their relatives on the mobiles phones being carried by the victims.

[VetLegion]

So who did it and why?

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by VetLegion
So who did it and why?

When Mohammed Jalaluddin - alias Babu Bhai - was arrested in the northern Indian city of Lucknow last year, he told his interrogators that Jaipur was one of their "prime targets".

"I remember he clearly mentioned two cities, the holy town of Hardwar on the banks of the Ganges and the city of Jaipur as being on their list of targets and we alerted everybody concerned," a joint director of India's federal Intelligence Bureau (IB), told the BBC.

The official was part of the team who questioned Jalaluddin.

Jalaluddin is accused of being the "Indian operations commander" of the Bangladesh-based militant group, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji), at the time of his arrest.

A native of West Bengal, Jalaluddin was trained in Bangladesh and then sent to unleash terror in India in 1999, officials say.

He claimed involvement in the July 2006 serial train bombings in Bombay, in which 187 people were killed.

"He told us that a Huji operative in Bangladesh called Jahangir gave him all the explosives for the Bombay blasts. Jahangir is a Bangladesh national," said the Intelligence Bureau joint director, who did not want to be named.

A US state department report has put India at the top of the list of countries worst afflicted by terrorism.

It says that India had more than 2,300 terrorism-related deaths in 2007 - about 10% of a worldwide figure of 22,000 terrorism-related deaths that year.

That is an astonishing number considering many of those 22,000 worldwide deaths occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan where wars are being fought.

[VetLegion]

Why do they do it anyway? I can sort of understand Tamil Tigers fighting for independance, but what are Bangladeshi muslims trying to achieve in India?

[LordShiva]

[Zkribbler]

I'm guessing they're part of those fanatics trying to impose a worldwide califate.

[Wezil]

*they're

/LordShiva