Eight small blasts hit Indian IT hub

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-26 10:28

Eight small bombs exploded in quick succession across the south Indian IT city of Bangalore on Friday, killing two and wounding at least 15 people, police said.

Police inspect the site of a bomb blast near a bus stand in Bangalore, India, on Friday. [Agencies]

"In all these cases they have created the blast using timer devices," Bangalore Commissioner of Police Shankar Bidari told reporters at the site of one of the blasts. "Explosives have also been used, in quantity equal to one or two grenades."

Bangalore, known as India's Silicon Valley, is one of the world's most prominent centers for software development and is also the capital of its outsourcing industry.

Also nicknamed the "world's back office", it is home to more than 1,500 top firms, including India's Infosys Technologies and Wipro and offices of global firms such as Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp.

Some IT firms, as well as schools, colleges and cinemas, closed after news of the blasts broke. Phone lines were jammed.

"I was on my way to office when we heard a noise," witness Arun Daniel told the CNN-IBN TV channel.

"It sounded like a cracker. The traffic was blocked, everyone was running around. It was not a severe blast."

Local TV showed a small shopping stall in Bangalore with broken windows and its concrete floors broken in pieces. Rubble littered another site.

Pujar, additional police commissioner for Bangalore said "crude explosives" had been used. "There were seven low-intensity explosions," he told Reuters. "Some of them were in crowded areas. At least one person was killed and 15 to 20 were injured."

One of the blasts occurred behind a bus stand, killing a woman, police said.

India has suffered a wave of bombings in recent years, with targets ranging from mosques and Hindu temples to trains. It is unusual for any group to claim responsibility for attacks.

Agencies