You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
India-Pakistan
Serial bombs kill 68 and injure 470 in India's Assam state
2008-10-30
Eleven bomb blasts in quick succession ripped through the main city of India's troubled northeastern Assam state and three other towns on Thursday, killing at least 33 people and wounding 200, police said. No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb blasts. Assam has been a focus of a terrorist jihad separatist insurgency for decades, but it has also recently suffered bomb attacks blamed on Islamic terrorists militants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

Firefighters doused smouldering remains of cars and motorcycles at one of the blast sites in Guwahati. One of the blasts targeted a high security zone with a court as well as offices and homes of senior police officials. Many of the blasts were in crowded markets in the state. Television channels showed some people lying on the streets, their clothes soaked in blood. Some of the walking wounded were helped into ambulances by local people and police. "So far, we have received reports of 33 deaths and 200 people wounded in 11 blasts," a police officer in the main control room told Reuters.

"The impact of the blast was so huge, a packed bus got half burnt and we pulled out lot of injured people and sent them to hospital," Pankaj Goswami, a witness at a blast in Guwahati, said. Local television said a curfew was imposed in Guwahati after crowds angry at the blasts attacked police and set cars on fire. Police fired in the air to disperse an angry mob.
Posted by:ryuge

#3  Damn Muslims are up and at 'em again,.... surprise! surprise! with BOMBS this time!

I know.. I know.. I know Ima just prejudiced and biased again those DAMN MUSLIMS!
Posted by: Red Dawg   2008-10-30 17:13  

#2  GUWAHATI: In the deadliest terror attacks in Assam, 66 people were killed and about 470 injured in 13 near-simultaneous blasts in Guwahati and three other towns on Thursday by suspected Bangladesh-based HuJi militants. ( Watch )

The first of the explosions went off at around 11.30 am near the Ganeshguri flyover near the high-security capital complex housing the assembly building, followed by explosions at Paltan Bazar and Fancy Bazar here--all within five minutes. ( Watch )

Around the same time, bombs also went off in crowded market places of Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Barpeta in lower Assam. Official sources put the toll at 66 dead and 470 injured. ( Watch )

Of the six blasts in Guwahati, RDX was used in two of the explosions, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said adding a special task force has been set up to unearth the conspiracy behind the blasts.

Black smoke billowed from the deputy commissioner's office housing the district courts, which bore the brunt of the attacks in Guwahati, as vehicles, including a number of cars, turned into mangled heaps of metal.

Police suspected that the bomb was planted in the court complex on a two-wheeler.

At least 33 people were killed in the blasts in Guwahati where an indefinite curfew was clamped following protests by residents, who accused the police of delayed action, official sources said. ( Watch )

Assam has witnessed massive ethnic violence since early 1980s and ULFA-sponsored insurgency but this is the first time that a terror attack in the form of serial blasts rocked the state in such a magnitude.

Bodies of the many of the dead were charred beyond recognition. The blast sites were stewn with severed limbs and blood of the victims.

A red alert has been sounded across the state and Army has also been put on alert in view of the security situation, he said after Gogoi held a review meeting with his cabinet colleagues and top officials.
Posted by: john frum   2008-10-30 16:21  

#1  Muzzies branching out? The Commies are gonna feel left out.
Security analysts and military intelligence officials said the Assam blasts, the worst attack in the troubled northeast, bore the hallmarks of strikes by Islamist militants.

"These blasts look like the handiwork of terrorist groups from Bangladesh, as you need sophisticated militant groups to carry out such coordinated attacks," Major General Ashok Mehta, a security analyst, told Reuters in New Delhi. "It is quite possible that separatist groups are not involved at all," Mehta added.

The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Assam's major separatist group often blamed for attacks, denied involvement.
Posted by: ed   2008-10-30 12:17  

00:00