BBC NEWS | South Asia | Serial bombs hit Indias IT hub
Seven bombs have hit the southern Indian city of Bangalore in a span of 15 minutes, police say. One woman was killed and several people injured. Police say bombs were detonated with timing devices. The blasts have been described as low intensity and all are reported to have occurred in crowded areas.
Stephanie and I happened to arrive in Bangalore via car this afternoon, around 3:30pm — and were immediately cautioned by the Ballal Residency hotel staff not to go out anywhere today. The last two of the (currently reported) 7 blasts were about 1km from here (Vittal Mallaya Road and Richmond Town), roughly an hour before we got here. So it’ll be room service for dinner tonight.
Our prayers are with the victims, and we hope the perpetrators are brought to justice.
Glad to hear u r safe.
This is nonsense caused by anti_US gangs and probably designed to destabilize India’s economy and oppose us-india nuclear deals
Be careful
The radicals responsible seem more intent on stirring up troubles between Hindus and Muslims, and destabilizing India in general. The attacks were in common public areas — bus stops, small in-city parks, crowded street-corners. Not the usual western tourist places.
So far, the stories in the paper have indicated this is more "anti-BJP" than anything else, and in retaliation for the imprisonment and deaths of Muslims. I don’t think the nuclear deal even enters into it.
Having been over here a couple years, it’s really changed my perspective, with regards to how America is perceived. In the day-to-day life of the average Indian citizen, America is interesting, possibly dangerous and a little crazy lately — but not all that important. They’re far more concerned with the economy, internal strife, Pakistan, China, oil prices, etc.
You know recent cnfidence vote for indian Prime Min was related to nuclear deal…
May be it is just local politics and anti-hindus
India needs to beef up their security forces
Perhaps — but the letter from the group claiming responsibility called out Modi, and was said to be in response to the killings of Muslims. This is more a domestic matter.
It can be deceptive, seeing the world through the eyes of the American media outlets — they make it sound as if everything is about or in reaction to US policies. Except it’s not.
True, here in India, there is much annoyance with the seemingly dictatorial tone taken by the nuclear deal on the part of America. But that hasn’t filtered down to the everyday issues concerning most Indians. Here, the nuke deal comes into play more due to concerns that India be able to build nuclear power plants, and keep its nuclear weapons arsenal in place to counter what appears to be an increasingly unstable and belligerent Pakistan.
As for bombings, these are merely the latest in a long series that actually look to be instigated by forces outside India, supporting radicals inside India, seeking to destabilize the country and foment Hindu-Muslim antagonism. A deeper analysis of the timings and locations supports this: Attacks on mosques have been on Fridays, the main Muslim holy days. Attacks on Hindu temples have been on Tuesdays.
Had this been anti-American or even anti-Westerner, the attacks would instead be in places where tourists gather, but that hasn’t been the case. Rather, ordinary citizens have been targeted in an effort to create fear and chaos in India. To most here, America is just a semi-crazy country engaged in really stupid and self-destructive policies.
When people here learn I’m from the US, the most common comment is, "So are you going to elect a sensible President this time around?"