7 blasts rock Bangalore, one killed

Sourced from www.iblive.com

Seven low-intensity blasts rocked Bangalore on Friday afternoon killing one woman and injuring nine people. Bangalore City Police Commissioner Shankar M Bidari and Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta confirmed that seven blasts shook Bangalore.

“Bangalore is so much in the spotlight. I think we are all aware that Bangalore is always on red alert. We are all very aware of the fact that we are very vulnerable to any kind of terrorist threat and this was something that was unexpected. It is time we looked at this together in a collective way and made sure that we really use our intelligence, our technology and our effort to make Bangalore a very safe place,” said Kiran Majumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon.

The first blast took place near Madiwala checkpost at around 1330 hrs IST with Additional Commissioner of Police, Bangalore, Gopal Hosur, confirming that a timer device was used to trigger the blasts. All the blasts took place with 15 minutes of each other. The explosions shook Sirjapur Road, Nayandhalli, Madiwala checkpost, Adigudi, Rajaram and Raja Ram Mohan Roy circle.

Bomb disposal squads have been rushed to the blast sites and telephone network have been jammed to stop the spread of rumours. According to the police gelatin sticks were used in the blasts. Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar M Bidari said, "We are monitoring the situation and request all residents to continue with their normal routine. The bomb squad and explosives experts are on the spot. We will deal with the situation."

All the injured have been taken to Mallya Hospital near Rajaram Mohan Rai circle. Bangalore was rocked by a major terrorist attack in December, 2005 when some unidentified extremists opened fire in the Indian Institute of Science complex killing an Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi professor MC Puri. Bomb disposal squads and forensic experts have rushed to the blast spots for investigations.