Bharat Rakshak

Four detained; condition of two injured serious; no security lapse, says Nitish

Five persons were killed and 83 injured in multiple blasts that rocked Patna’s Gandhi Maidan and the railway station on Sunday, hours before BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was to address the Hunkar rally here.

A rash of seven explosions ripped through the surroundings of the Gandhi Maidan, where nearly over two lakh people had gathered for the rally. Of the 83 people injured, two are in a critical condition.

“A total of seven blasts took place of which five were inside the Gandhi Maidan and two at the station,” Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj told The Hindu.

One of the blasts at the station occurred even as the bomb disposal squad was defusing a bomb. The police found two unexploded improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at two locations around the maidan. Searches are on for more IEDs.

The blasts claimed the lives of Ram Narayan Singh, Vikas Singh, Munna Srivastav and two others.

6 killed in 8 explosions as IM targets Modi’s Patna rally
Gyan Prakash, Sayantanee Choudhury & Deeptiman Tiwary, TNN | Oct 28, 2013, 01.26 AM IST

PATNA/NEW DELHI: The political campaign for the 2014 election took a frightening turn on Sunday when six persons were killed and around 100 injured at the crowded venue of Narendra Modi's rally here in a suspected terror attack designed to inflict mass casualties.

Eight explosive devices with timers went off between 9.30am and 12.25pm as part of a serial bomb attack suspected to be the handiwork of Indian Mujahideen (IM). Four alleged operatives of the outfit have been detained, one of whom is in critical condition after being caught in a blast. During interrogation, they reportedly told the police that they had staged the attack in retaliation for the Muzaffarnagar riots. They are also said to have named the IM module involved in the Bodh Gaya blasts.

The names of the four detained are Imtiaz Ansari, Ainul, Akhtar and Kaleem. Ansari, a resident of Ranchi, was apprehended at the railway station just after the first two bombs went off. He was apparently planning to plant some more bombs but panicked when he saw the police and bomb disposal squad. On being challenged, he tried to flee but was arrested.

The investigators then got incredibly lucky. Ansari had been asked by his handlers not to carry a mobile phone. So he had jotted down phone numbers of a dozen conspirators on a piece of paper, which fell into the hands of the cops and helped them track down some of the others. One of them, Ainul, who is critical, was initially believed to be a victim of the railway station blasts before it emerged that he was also part of the conspiracy.

Six of the bombs went off inside and near Gandhi Maidan, the sprawling rally venue. The remaining two blasts took place inside a public convenience complex at Patna Junction when trains, including special ones hired by the BJP, were disgorging rallyists. The police officially said there was only one blast inside the railway station, but sources insisted there were two.

A bigger tragedy was averted only because the fortitude of the massive crowd ensured that there was no stampede: a horrific prospect that could have killed hundreds.

Modi and other BJP leaders helped. The Gujarat CM, who defied the advice of Gujarat Police to address the Hunkar rally, as well as other BJP leaders made no mention of the outrage in their speeches, with the crowds taking the exploding improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in their midst for firecrackers.

Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley apparently favoured going ahead with the rally without mentioning the blast as they fered that calling it off would have led to panic and a stampede.

The Hindutva leader, who spoke for less than an hour after the last explosion at Gandhi Maidan, ended his speech by exhorting the audience to maintain peace and unity at all costs. "There should be no stain on Bihar's reputation and peace must be maintained across the country," he said.

Reports from Ranchi said the Jharkhand police also detained two suspected IM operatives in this connection and seized explosives and a picture of Osama bin Laden from their possession.

Talking to reporters, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar confirmed that documents found on Ansari had given the investigators important leads. Kumar, who was attacked by the BJP for not providing security at the rally venue, said police were working on the basis of telephone numbers Ansari was carrying, and claimed that the case would be worked out shortly.

According to sources, Ansari and other members of the gang had ringed the venue with explosives in the morning when the participants had already started congregating. The explosives were planted in a clockwise manner, starting with a spot bang across the Police Control Room.

Sources quoted Ansari as telling his interrogators that the IM module took care not to plant the explosives in the night, fearing that dew would dampen the IEDs which were said to be similar to those used in the Bodh Gaya blasts.

Talking to reporters, the Bihar CM and his DGP Abhayanand were at pains to stress that there were no lapses on the government's part. Kumar said the rally organizers were extended all assistance sought by them, adding that BJP had expressed no apprehension of a terror attack. The police chief also claimed that standard operating procedures laid down for the purpose were scrupulously followed.

However, BJP leaders accused them of laxity and indifference, saying that even elementary precaution — setting up adequate number of frisking points and anti-sabotage checks — was not taken.

Also, while the Bihar CM claimed that there was no intelligence alert, sources in the police said that IB had warned them about a possible terror attack on the rally.

Rahul M wrote:According to sources, Ansari and other members of the gang had ringed the venue with explosives in the morning when the participants had already started congregating. The explosives were planted in a clockwise manner, starting with a spot bang across the Police Control Room.

Sources quoted Ansari as telling his interrogators that the IM module took care not to plant the explosives in the night, fearing that dew would dampen the IEDs which were said to be similar to those used in the Bodh Gaya blasts.

Sushupti wrote:

Ruling out any security lapses in the arrangements for BJP prime ministerial candidate's mammoth 'Hunkar' (battle cry) rally, Nitish also said there were no intelligence inputs about the explosions either from the Centre or from the state.

NEW DELHI — A series of low-intensity bombs exploded on Sunday in the northeastern city of Patna, apparently targeting a vast rally featuring the opposition leader Narendra Modi, whose Bharatiya Janata Party hopes to unseat the long-dominant Congress Party in national elections next spring.
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Krishna Murari Kishan/Reuters
An explosion occurred near where the opposition leader Narendra Modi was to speak.
Five people were killed and 83 injured, the authorities said late Sunday.

Homemade bombs, fitted with wires and timers, exploded in a series of crowded places: at a railway station, outside a movie theater, near two landmark buildings, and two on the Gandhi Maidan grounds, where Mr. Modi was preparing to speak, according to Abhayanand, the state’s director general of police.

Four people were arrested Sunday afternoon, said Manu Maharaj, Patna’s district police chief. He said that one man was arrested at the scene of a blast and confessed to being involved, and that all four men in custody were being interrogated.

Bharatiya Janata Party officials had hailed the rally as the largest to be held in the state of Bihar, a high-stakes electoral battleground, and decided to proceed despite the blasts. An enormous crowd roared in response as Mr. Modi invoked the Hindu epics, asking them to chant traditional battle cries.

Bihar has presented a problem for Mr. Modi’s party. Commanding 40 seats in the lower house of Parliament, the state will be critical if the Bharatiya Janata Party hopes to win a comfortable majority. But Bihar has a relatively large population of Muslim voters, many of whom are wary of Mr. Modi for his uncompromising stand in favor of his party’s Hindu-nationalist ideology.

The state’s top official, Nitish Kumar, broke off a longtime coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party when it became clear that Mr. Modi was the probable candidate for prime minister.

In comments to reporters on Sunday, Mr. Kumar described the blasts as “a well-planned conspiracy to disturb and vitiate the peaceful atmosphere of the state,” and appealed for harmony between India’s political parties. He refused to speculate on the theory that the blasts were set by Indian Mujahedeen, a banned Islamic militant group, but did suggest they may have aimed to divide the state on religious lines.

“If it was to disturb the communal peace and harmony of the state, we all have to take it and fight it out jointly,” he said.

Mr. Modi, for his part, appeared calm and jovial at the rally, and the crowd erupted in cheers when he addressed them in Bhojpuri and Maithili, two local dialects. He said the Congress Party had failed miserably in its attempts to control inflation and unemployment, and contrasted his own humble background with the dynastic succession of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

“I used to sell tea on trains,” Mr. Modi said. “Even the Railway Minister doesn’t have my experience of what one faces on trains.”

It was a note that appeared to resonate with the crowd. Amit, who said he had come to the rally from a village three hours to the north, said Indians are “tired of dynastic rule.”

“We have had the same family for 60 years,” he said.

“We don’t need this shehzada,” he added, using the Hindi word for prince to refer to Rahul Gandhi, who is the son and grandson of previous Indian prime ministers and is widely expected to be the Congress Party’s nominee for prime minister.

Throughout the day, speakers struggled to keep the crowd’s attention as five separate bomb blasts went off. Each time, the official speaking did not acknowledge the explosion, awkwardly continuing speeches and trying to maintain the momentum of the rally.

The Bharatiya Janata Party spared no expense in the run up to the rally, trying alternative tactics to bolster awareness and attendance. In a nod to Mr. Modi’s background as a tea seller, the party dispatched mobile tea vans throughout the city and gave “NaMo Tea Stall” posters to tea stands to brand themselves with the first two letters of Mr. Modi’s first and last names.

Mr. Modi’s event in Patna, with the unfolding drama of the explosions, did manage to eclipse a simultaneous rally organized by the Congress Party near New Delhi, headlined by Mr. Gandhi. The two events had been billed as “the battle of the rallies” by some journalists, but coverage favored Mr. Modi, and one observer noted on Twitter that she could not catch Mr. Gandhi’s speech because news channels “had him on mute.”

Amarnath Tewary and Zach Marks contributed reporting from Patna, India.

Besides Ansari, Ainul, Akhtar and Kaleem are among the 13 other suspects arrested in connection the blasts.

As per reports, Ansari has told his interrogators that the blasts were a terror strike orchestrated by the Indian Mujahideen (IM) to avenge the Muzaffarnagar blasts. He has claimed that the conspiracy was hatched by Tehseen Akhtar, who is the right hand man of arrested IM mastermind Yasin Bhatkal.

Ansari has also reportedly claimed that Akhtar had met him in early October and had provided him the explosives used to carry out the strike in Patna.

Akhtar alias Monu is said to be part of IM’s infamous Darbhanga module. He is believed to have taken over the operation command of the outfit in India after Ahmed Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal’s arrest in August. Monu's role is also suspected in Bodh Gaya blasts.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/pa ... 86382.html

Singha wrote:I wonder how 12+ suspects have been so easily arrested within a day NOW, rather than earlier. are these modules that easy to catch?

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts and appealed for calm. He spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and asked him to speedily probe the blasts and ensure that the perpetrators are punished.

Singha wrote:I wonder how 12+ suspects have been so easily arrested within a day NOW, rather than earlier. are these modules that easy to catch?

how likely is it that a bomber would try to plant a bomb while the attack was already in progress. doesn't match with IM's meticulous planning IMHO.

if it was IM , why plant low intensity bombs ???

Rahul M wrote:

Singha wrote:I wonder how 12+ suspects have been so easily arrested within a day NOW, rather than earlier. are these modules that easy to catch?

there is something seriously wrong with the story accompanying this series of blasts.

ramana wrote:Lilo I understand the anguish but calm is the need of the hour. Even the victims of the blasts were calm. We need to take inspiration from them.
No point in giving opportunity to malcontents and Paid Gungadins.

Saar, the feelings was:
in India a stampede have occurred with just a couple people yelling "Bomb"
here there was 6 blasts, 5 i watched with me own eyes, the whole setup was uh!oh!
get the netas out, everyone for his or her self!!! but those footwear less bhojpuri/Maithali speaking
attendees did the unthinkable, they carried the injured to the ambulances came back and sat down
to listen NaMo, the way the crowd stood their ground was a real tight slap
a wake up slap for those who doubt about the wave
a slap to those who planed evil by the blasts
there were about 3000 polis but went missing when the blast started,
all the safety security evacuation was done by the attendees, a really real humbling experience.

ANI ‏@ANI_news 4h

Timer device,a digital one,which has been used here of same brand that was discovered in Bodh Gaya-S N Pradhan,ADG J'Khand on Patna blasts

ramana wrote:TOI reports

Second suspect dies on bomb injuries


No names.