India on alert as death toll from bombs rises

[Mike Baker]

LINK

(CNN) -- Metropolitan areas of India were on high alert Sunday after a wave of synchronized bombs that hit the western Indian city of Ahmedabad killed at least 49 people and wounded more than 114, police reported.

The streets of Ahmedabad were calm, with anxious residents staying indoors and the Indian Army marching through parts of the city to instill a sense of security among residents.

"There hasn't been any outbreak of violence," said Ahmedabad police Cpl.-in-charge M.N. Raghela. "The army, police and paramilitary forces are patrolling the city, and residents are being very supportive."

Seventeen low intensity blasts went off within a span of 70 minutes Saturday night, all within a 6-mile (10-km) radius.

By 4:15 p.m. Sunday (6:45 a.m. ET), the death toll had climbed to 49. The official number of wounded is 114, according to Ahmedabad police, but Raghela said the number of injuries surpassed 200.  Watch a witness describe what happened »

The serial blasts occurred barely 24 hours after nine similar explosions rocked Bangalore, known as the Silicon Valley of India. Two people were killed and six injured in those explosions.

In both cities, bicycles, bags and lunch boxes were repositories for the bombs, authorities said.

"It is a conspiracy to unsettle the country," Union Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal told CNN-IBN Saturday.

More on link.
-Deadpan

 

[Mike Baker]

Just found this. In e-mail, Islamic group claims India blasts

AHMADABAD, India - An obscure Islamic group claimed responsibility for a series of synchronized explosions that killed at least 45 people in western India, warning of "the terror of Death" in an e-mail sent to several television stations minutes before the blasts.

"In the name of Allah the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death!" said an e-mail from the group sent to several Indian television stations minutes before the blasts began.

The e-mail's subject line said "Await 5 minutes for the revenge of Gujarat," an apparent reference to 2002 riots in the western state which left 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead. The historic city of Ahmadabad was the scene of much of the 2002 violence.