Church Street bomb blast: One victim succumbs to injury

One woman was killed and a man injured in an explosion triggered by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in front of a famous restaurant on a busy road in the heart of the city tonight.

The woman identified as Bhavani, who hails from Tamil Nadu and was on a visit to the City, succumbed to serious shrapnel injures sustained on her head, City Police Commissioner M N Reddi told reporters at the site late night. The second person identified as Karthik was out of danger, he added.

The blast occurred around 8.30 pm near Coconut Grove, a popular restauraunt on Church Street, close to the fashionable Brigade Road, which is dotted with bars and restaurants with teeming crowd on weekends. Both Bhavani and Reddi were admitted to a nearby hospital after sustaining injuries in the explosion, Reddi said, as police cordoned off the area.

Reddi said no one has claimed responsibility for the blast. "At about 8:30 pm on the Church street outside the restaurant called Coconut Grove there was an explosion heard.. we have found that there was improvised explosive device that was used by some culprits and in this explosion two persons have been injured," Reddi said.

"As far as the current information is concerned the IED that has been used is like a low intensity bomb and some shrapnel's have obviously hit the individuals who have been injured. This is the information we have," he said.

Reddi said the entire city police force had been mobilised and added that additional force from Karnataka State reserve police had also been sought.

Internal security division experts along with the forensic team, dog squad as well as anti sabotage check team have rushed to the spot.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called up Karnataka Chief Minister S Siddaramaiah and assured him that all help will be given by the Centre.

Singh said the Chief Minister apprised him of the situation. "Spoke to Karnataka CM Shri S Siddaramaiah regarding the Bangalore blast. He apprised me of the situation. Centre ready to provide all help," Singh tweeted.