Bomb blast rocks Bangalore

Act of terror? 16 injured in explosion near the BJP party office in Malleswaram

A bomb planted on a motorbike barely 30 metres from the State BJP head office at Malleswaram here exploded on Wednesday, injuring 16 people. The blast overshadowed proceedings on the last day of filing nominations for the State Assembly elections.

The incident coincided with the third anniversary of the Chinnaswamy Stadium blasts here. Two explosions had rocked the stadium on April 17, 2010.  

 Bearing the brunt of the explosion was a Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) van, with about 12 policemen, which was stationed in front of the BJP office. Ganesh Rao (50), a KSRP head constable who was standing near the van when the explosion occurred around 10:30 am, sustained grievous injuries. Four passersby, including two teenage girls, were also hurt.

The injured were admitted to KC General Hospital at Malleswaram.
Initially, it was thought to be an LPG cylinder blast. It later emerged that an improvised explosive device (pipe bomb) was mounted on a motorcycle parked barely five metres from the KSRP van. The explosive used was ammonium nitrate and the blast was triggered by a low quality timer (quartz watch), sources in the forensic lab told Deccan Herald.

It was also learnt that CCTV footage from the area showed a man parking the motorcycle. He apparently waited for 12 minutes at the spot. However, senior police officers neither denied nor confirmed this.

The police rushed to the spot. L R Pachuau, DGP & IGP, confirmed that it was a bomb blast with explosives planted on a bike. He, however, refused to term the incident a “terror attack.” He said the State police, in coordination with central agencies, were working on the case.

Such was the intensity of the blast that reverberations were heard  a kilometre away. Houses adjacent to the blast site were also damaged, with window panes and furniture shattered. Three cars and two bikes parked nearby were destroyed.

Vijayendra Rao, who works at an ice-cream shop at the blast site, said: “When I opened my shop, the police van, two cars and some bikes were parked in front of the shop. At 10:35 am, I stepped a few yards away from the shop with my grandson to buy him a balloon. As I was returning, I heard a huge explosion that was almost deafening. I saw a bike, due to the impact, being thrown up almost the height of the two-storey building opposite and, within seconds, all the cars parked on the footpath caught fire.”

An eyewitness stated that the explosion left the people in the locality rattled. “We did not even realise what had happened. One moment I was walking along the road parallel to the blast site, and the next there was a huge noise and massive flames from the cars parked there,” said Venkat.

Sources said nobody has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar said there was an intelligence alert that Bangalore might be targeted as Wednesday was the third anniversary of the Chinnaswamy Stadium blasts. The alert was not specific, he added.

Home Minister R Ashoka, who also visited the spot, said the blast was perpetrated to target senior BJP leaders and party workers. “It was planned to inflict harm on us during the election season,” Ashoka said.

A National Investigation Agency team has joined the probe. A special NSG post blast investigation team also arrived here from New Delhi  in the evening and inspected the blast site along with forensic experts. An FIR has been registered at the Vyalikaval police station.