UCAN REPORT: One person injured in 'low intensity' explosions, terrorism not ruled out
One of the blast sites in Pune
Fourteen states have been placed on high alert after a series of bomb blasts yesterday rocked Pune, the cultural capital of Maharashtra state.
“There were a total of four bomb blasts within 30 to 40 minutes,” Pune’s police commissioner Gulabrao Rao Pol told ucanews.com.
He said the blasts spread panic among Pune’s five million residents, who still vividly remember the killing of 17 people by a terrorist bombing two years ago.
However, Pol ruled out a terror link in the latest blasts.
“This is not an act of terror but rather mischief-making to create panic among the citizens,” he said.
Television reports described the blasts as “low intensity.”
But federal Home Secretary R K Singh contradicted the commissioner, saying a terror angle could not be ruled out as the blasts looked planned and coordinated.
The Home Ministry has since put 14 states, including Delhi, on high alert. Security has been tightened in New Delhi, the capital, and in Mumbai, the country’s financial hub.
Security forces have been briefed to pay particular attention to crowded places like markets and train stations, as they have been targets for previous bomb attacks.
The blasts occurred on the day that India’s newly appointed Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, was due to attend a function in Pune. The minister, a native of Maharashtra, had canceled the engagement at the last minute.
Commissioner Pol said the first blast occurred at around 7:30 pm on Pune’s JM Road. Dotted with shopping malls and eateries, the area attracts large crowds at this time of the evening. Bipin Patole, who lives on JM Road, told ucanews.com that he saw a bomb exploding “like a firecracker” just outside his home.
The commissioner reported that only one person was injured in the blasts after he picked up a plastic bag containing explosives by mistake. He added that a fifth bomb outside a petrol station was diffused, averting a potential disaster.
SHARED FROM UCAN NEWS
“There were a total of four bomb blasts within 30 to 40 minutes,” Pune’s police commissioner Gulabrao Rao Pol told ucanews.com.
He said the blasts spread panic among Pune’s five million residents, who still vividly remember the killing of 17 people by a terrorist bombing two years ago.
However, Pol ruled out a terror link in the latest blasts.
“This is not an act of terror but rather mischief-making to create panic among the citizens,” he said.
Television reports described the blasts as “low intensity.”
But federal Home Secretary R K Singh contradicted the commissioner, saying a terror angle could not be ruled out as the blasts looked planned and coordinated.
The Home Ministry has since put 14 states, including Delhi, on high alert. Security has been tightened in New Delhi, the capital, and in Mumbai, the country’s financial hub.
Security forces have been briefed to pay particular attention to crowded places like markets and train stations, as they have been targets for previous bomb attacks.
The blasts occurred on the day that India’s newly appointed Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, was due to attend a function in Pune. The minister, a native of Maharashtra, had canceled the engagement at the last minute.
Commissioner Pol said the first blast occurred at around 7:30 pm on Pune’s JM Road. Dotted with shopping malls and eateries, the area attracts large crowds at this time of the evening. Bipin Patole, who lives on JM Road, told ucanews.com that he saw a bomb exploding “like a firecracker” just outside his home.
The commissioner reported that only one person was injured in the blasts after he picked up a plastic bag containing explosives by mistake. He added that a fifth bomb outside a petrol station was diffused, averting a potential disaster.
SHARED FROM UCAN NEWS
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