By Sahil Makkar, IANS,
Jaipur : The terror attacks Tuesday evening that killed at least 63 people and injured over 200 in this tourist city were planned to cause “maximum damage” and had the same modus operandi as the other bombings in India in the past year, Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said Wednesday.
“It is a well planned terror strike. Militants have used RDX and high explosives like ammonium nitrate and shrapnel in a particular manner to cause maximum damage,” Kataria told IANS in an interview at his office.
According to Kataria, the live bomb defused by the bomb disposal squad had double detonators and RDX, suggesting that the terrorists were working towards “maximum damage”.
“Terrorists have used a similar modus operandi in almost all strikes in the last one year. In the Uttar Pradesh court blasts (that killed 13 people), terrorists planted bombs on newly purchased bicycles. The same modus operandi was seen in the Malegoan and Mecca Masjid blasts,” he said, referring to the September 2006 terror strike in the Maharashtra town of Malegaon and the May 2007 attack on the historic mosque in Hyderabad.
“Terrorists have also used this way to carry out blasts in the city. We cannot say which terror organisation is behind the attacks but we have some possible clues and arrests would be made soon. It is a nationwide problem and we need to discuss it seriously.”
He also made the central government equally culpable for any security failure.
“The central government is equally responsible for the terror blast in Rajasthan,” Kataria said. “The centre cannot absolve itself by just sending routine alerts to states.”
Linking the blasts to the May 11, 1998 nuclear test in Pokhran, the minister said: “It could not be a mere coincidence.”
The minister said teams of detectives were working to ascertain the places from where the bicycles were purchased. But no arrests had been made so far.
Asked about the state government’s readiness to face such disasters, Kataria said: “No such tragedy has ever occurred in the state. We are now taking all corrective measures.”