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Atleast 70 dead, over 200 injured in Jaipur blasts; HuJI hand suspected
Jaipur, May 13: At least 60 persons have reportedly been killed and over 150 injured in 9 blasts that rocked Jaipur at around 7.40 pm on Tuesday. All blasts took place in densely populated areas, lying within a radius of 1 km of each other. Banned HuJI outfit is believed to be behind the serial blasts.
Terrorists struck for the first time in Jaipur triggering seven blasts in a span of 12 minutes on Tuesday night in crowded market areas and near a Hanuman [Images] temple in the walled city leaving at least 60 killed and 200 injured.

"According to the information I have received 60 people have died and 150 have been injured," said Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who rushed back to the state capital from Jodhpur.

Bangladesh-based Harkut-ul-Jehadi Islami is suspected to be behind the blasts that has taken the state authorities by surprise, home ministry sources said.

The sources ruled out the use of RDX in the carefully orchestrated low-intensity explosions which were suspected to have been set off from cycles in areas including near the famous Hawa Mahal which are frequented by domestic and foreign tourists.

The blasts rocked Tripolia Bazar, where large number of devotees turned up at a Hanuman temple, Johari Bazar, Manas Chowk, Badi Choupal and Choti Choupal -- all located within a two-km radius in the old city. Inspector General (Jaipur) Pankaj Singh said in all there were seven blasts, a couple of them in the same area.

Police said one explosive was defused by bomb disposal squad near the Hanuman temple.

Blood was splattered at the scene of the blasts which tossed some of the victims several feet up in the sky.

The Centre rushed bomb data squad of the National Security Guards to Jaipur.

Rajasthan Director General of Police A S Gill said the blasts were "obviously a terror attack." Doctors said many of the victims had shrapnel injuries. They feared that the toll may go up further.

Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed in Jaipur to help deal with the situation as security was beefed up.

One of the blasts took place in a car and another near a handloom shop in Kotwali area of the city, home department sources said.

Most of the injured were rushed to Sawai Man Singh hospital. Bodies of several victims lay strewn in the corridors of hospitals.

The blasts triggered a near-stampede situation at the blast sites were crammed with peak-hour shoppers and panic-stricken people ran helter skelter in search of safety.

The Hanuman temple at Tripolia bazar was crowded with worshippers being a Tuesday.
Suspect in Jaipur Blasts
The Rajasthan police on Wednesday released the sketch of a 25-year-old man with medium height, who was suspected to be behind Tuesday's serial blasts in Jaipur.

Inspector General of Police Pankaj Singh said that the sketch was prepared on the basis of a statement given by the owner of a cycle shop, from where the suspected terrorists purchased cycles, which were used to trigger the blasts with the help of explosives.. The sketch would be displayed at all important places, Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said.

He said several people might have been involved in planting the bombs and the number may be more or less than nine teams. Kataria said that two shops were identified in the walled city, from where the terrorists bought cycles used in the explosions.

A rickshaw puller identified as Vijay, injured in the blasts, was being questioned as he claimed that a lady had approached him to carry a new cycle to an area near Hawa Mahal, one of the sites of the terror attack, about 45 minutes before the blasts.

The rickshaw puller is undergoing treatment in hospital.

aipur blasts

With bomb blasts occurring at regular intervals, the life of the common man has become precariously insecure. The Jaipur bomb blasts have once again exposed the callousness of the powers-that-be. The government’s soft stance on terrorism and its failure to put it down with an iron hand have emboldened the terrorists to strike at will.

A.S. Farida,

Kancheepuram

India is soft on terror. Our leaders should desist from playing politics over the dead and get down to serious business. What is needed is a central agency dedicated to fighting terrorism and naxalite violence. We also need tough laws to deal with terror, and a visionary leadership that cares more about people than remaining in power.

Shashank Agiwal,

Bellary

The Jaipur atrocity is just another incident in our country’s history. Our leaders have expressed their anguish and pledged to book the culprits.

From tomorrow, they will be back to their routine. Terrorist attacks will continue to take place and our people will get used to them.

M.T. Raju,

Visakhapatnam

Serial blasts have become so common in India that they do not occupy the minds of the people, politicians and the media for more than a couple of days. That the investigations into the serial blasts of Hyderabad, Ajmer, Varanasi and Lucknow have not yielded any credible results has strengthened the terrorists’ resolve to strike at will. Unless the Centre visibly demonstrates that it is hard on terror and that lives do not come cheap, the people will not have faith in the government.

Amaruvi Devanathan,

Mesquite, Texas

One big terror strike takes place in some part of India regularly, thanks to the appeasement policy followed by our political parties and the educated elite who fail to exercise their franchise. If we continue to remain silent spectators to the acts of our politicians, India may have to witness serial blasts on a monthly basis, then on a weekly basis, and so on.

S. Ramalingam,

Vellore

Our intelligence agencies have no clue to potential terror targets. They issue only general warnings. India is a vast country and there are hundreds of towns and cities where, at a given time, over 1000 people gather. They are most vulnerable to such terror attacks. It is time we revamped our intelligence network and a coordinated effort was launched to eliminate terrorism.

Amit Mehrotra,

Moradabad

We, the people, will be grateful to terrorists if they tell us the motive behind their acts. If they want to avenge the acts of some fundamentalist organisations, let them attack the groups directly. They should not harm the innocent people.

K.N. Ramani,

Coimbatore

Every time a terrorist strike takes place, the government sheds crocodile tears. By not implementing a strong anti-terrorist law, it has given the terrorists the licence to kill more. Our porous border with Bangladesh allows many illegal immigrants to cross over. Our politicians help them to get voter identity cards and passports to further their vote-bank interests.

Tuneer Banerjee,

Kolkata

The Jaipur blasts are a tight slap in the face of the so-called “tight” security arrangements. There are many loopholes in our security system. Most of the time, the authorities ignore the warnings of terrorist groups. Red alerts are sounded after the terror attacks. Why can’t the common man get 24-hour security?

Komal Gupta,

New Delhi

There is no doubt Pervez Musharraf controlled the terrorist forces in Pakistan to some extent. The leniency shown by the new government has encouraged the forces that will once again show their hatred for India. There are plenty of soft targets in India, and for a terrorist from a neighbouring country — be it Bangladesh or Pakistan — porous frontiers allow easy access.

K.R.A. Narasiah,

Chennai

Sometimes, you have to take action that is expedient rather than principled. Terrorists are ruthless and ruthlessness should be met with ruthlessness. The government has been found to be too soft where drastic action is due. One can’t always be at the receiving end.

K.G. Koru Kuttan Nair,

Cherpalcheri

The argument that POTA should be brought back or its equivalent enacted to prevent acts of terror is unacceptable. We have seen that laws like TADA, POTA and MOCA only aggravate the situation.

It would be more worthwhile to build trust among all sections. Community policing should be encouraged in all areas. And our government should form an efficient agency that can think like terrorists.

Zaved Ahmed Khan,

Vellore

The oft-repeated mantra that POTA and other such draconian laws be introduced is no solution to terrorism. Such laws, which are responsible for imprisoning people like Dr. Sen and Ajay with concocted evidence not admissible under normal criminal laws, will only encourage laziness and tardy investigation. Torture and unnecessary detention of innocent people will further the cause of terrorism and encourage fresh recruits to terrorist ranks from affected families.

Kasim Sait,

Chennai