pin:231B0D40»» Patna bombings: outlawed Islamist group blamed for fatal blasts: Suspect arrested after six blasts killed seven and wounded 83 told police that Indian Mujahideen told him to carry out bombings An outlawed Islamist group has been blamed for a series of deadly bomb blasts near an Indian opposition rally by a Hindu nationalist leader in a grim prelude to national elections next spring. No group has claimed responsibility for the six small blasts, which killed seven people and wounded 83 just before the rally by Hindu nationalist opposition leader Narendra Modi on Sunday. However, one of two suspects arrested after the blasts told police that the outlawed Indian Mujahideen had instructed him and others to carry out the bombings as hundreds of thousands of people gathered for the rally in a central park in Bihars state capital of Patna, police said. The main motive was to create panic and cause a stampede, said senior Patna police official Manu Maharaj. Officials from Modis Bharatiya Janata party, or BJP, said they kept news of the blasts quiet until after the rally to avoid panicking the crowd. Modi is waging an aggressive campaign to become Indias next prime minister and critics worry his rise could exacerbate sectarian tensions between Indias majority Hindus and its 138 million Muslims. After the blasts, police detained three men in eastern Bihar state and three more in neighbouring Jharkhand, where officers raided a home and seized a huge amount of explosives along with bomb-making materials. Police charged two of the suspects with criminal conspiracy and mass murder. The other four were released after questioning. The Indian Mujahideen, which has been linked to the banned Pakistan-based Islamist rebel group Lashkar-e-Taiba, has not claimed responsibility for Sundays blasts. Indias hardline Islamic organisation Jamaat-e-Islami, meanwhile, denounced the attack and demanded swift punishment for those involved. The death toll rose to seven on Monday as several people died from their injuries. Dozens more were still being treated in a Patna hospital, including several in critical condition. Modi offered condolences to the victims in a Twitter message after the rally. Bihars top elected official, chief minister Nitish Kumar, broke with the BJP six months ago over Modis candidacy, which he suggested could upset communal relations within Indias secular democracy of 1.2bn people. Modi, who has served three terms as Gujarats leader, is credited with turning his western state into a haven for investment and industry. But for years Modi has dodged allegations that he and his Hindu fundamentalist party colleagues looked the other way and even encouraged marauding mobs of Hindus as they killed and burned their way through Muslim neighbourhoods in Gujarat in 2002, leaving more than 1,100 people dead in one of Indias worst outbursts of communal violence. No evidence directly links Modi to the violence, and he says he has no responsibility for the killings. The supreme court criticised his government, however, for failing to prosecute Hindu rioters who justified the rampage as revenge for a train fire that killed 60 Hindus. An independent probe in 2006 determined the fire was an accident, but a 2008 state government commission said it was planned by Muslims. * India theguardian © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds @OfficialMGN @officialMGN
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 11:55:20 +0000
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