Explosions Rock India for Second Day
By ERIC BELLMAN
July 27, 2008 1:02 a.m.
MUMBAI -- A series of 16 explosions from low-intensity bombs ripped through the city of Ahmedabad, the capital of the western Indian state of Gujarat, killing at least 29 and injuring at least 88 people, just one day after a series of seven explosions rocked the high-technology center of Bangalore in the south of the country.
Both events, coming just one day apart, serve as a reminder of how the country, despite its economic expansion in the past few years, remains vulnerable to terrorism. The attacks appear also to reinforce the recent trend of bombings in India targeted at symbolically important regional cities.
Gujarat has been a magnet for companies in the past few years, attracted by its relatively orderly and pro-business state government. Yet Ahmedabad also was the scene of massive Hindu-Muslim violence in 2002 which left more than 2,000 dead. Some of the bombs in Ahmedabad appeared targeted at civilian hospitals, according to Indian television reports, and were detonated in waves across the city Saturday evening.
In Bangalore Friday afternoon, the explosions, which also were small but well-coordinated, took place within minutes of each other and killed two people.
There were no early claims of responsibility for either series of blasts and there were no indications so far that they were connected. But terrorism is suspected.
Bangalore, a city of about six million, is the home of many of India's outsourcing and software super powers, including Infosys Technologies Ltd. and Wipro Ltd. Both companies said none of their employees were affected but they are considering tightening security. There were no reports of business operations being affected. Bangalore is also the home of large back-office research and programming operations for big international names such as Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and International Business Machines Corp.
Indian cities have been targets of attacks for years from Islamic terrorists as well as other violent movements across the diverse nation. Other cities have seen much bloodier attacks. In May, a series of blasts in the popular tourist destination of Jaipur in northern India killed more than 60. In July 2006, bomb blasts tore through crowded commuter trains in Mumbai, killing more than 100. The most deadly attack was in 1993, when bombs exploded across Mumbai, targeting symbols of wealth such as hotels, offices and the Bombay Stock Exchange.
"They have been hitting the economic and technology centers purposefully," said Brahma Chellaney, a professor at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. "They target where India's economic growth is symbolically centered to undermine investor confidence and send out the message that they can hit anywhere."
Explosions Rock India for Second Day - WSJ.com