By P.Vijian, NNN-Bernama,
New Delhi : The death toll in Saturday’s serial blasts that ripped through Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s commercial hub, rose to 38 today while the number of wounded victims increased to 105, government officials said.
In the well-planned and synchronised attack, 17 explosions went off within two hours on Saturday evening, just a day after India’s IT capital Bangalore suffered eight low intensity bomb attacks which killed two people.
The bombs were systematically planted on bicycles, bus stops, crowded bazaar and near government hospitals, where at least 25 people, including two doctors killed.
Early investigations showed that gelatin rods and timers concealed in tiffin boxes and cloth bags were strapped to bicycles and parked at the crime scenes.
In the latest development, Indian intelligence agencies traced the IP (internet protocol) address of a sender of a threat mail to a rented house in Mumbai.
The Hindu newspaper reported that an Indian Mujahideen group had claimed responsibility for the terror attack, carried out to avenge the 2002 worst communal violence in Gujarat where over 2,000 people were killed, mostly Muslims.
A 14-page manifesto titled the “The Rise of Jihad” was e-mailed to a television station minutes before the terror attack took place, said the paper.
Major Indian cities including Delhi and Mumbai are on high alert following the two bombings.