Bombs Kill at Least 60 in India
Seven Blasts in 12 Minutes Target Busy Areas of Northern City

By Emily Wax and Rama Lakshmi
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, May 14, 2008; A13

JAIPUR, May 14 -- Seven bombs exploded Tuesday night in a crowded and ancient section of the northwestern Indian city of Jaipur, killing at least 60 people and seriously injuring scores of others, officials said.

No group immediately asserted responsibility for the attacks, which occurred in a span of 12 minutes, and the motive remained unclear.

Such attacks have become more common in Indian cities in recent years and are frequently attributed to disgruntled Muslim youths, aided by groups in Pakistan and possibly Bangladesh. The attacks are intended to deepen divisions between Hindus and Muslims, counterterrorism analysts say, and often occur in mixed neighborhoods near temples or mosques.

Officials differentiate between these sorts of attacks and those attributed to Islamist extremists from the disputed Kashmir Valley or Pakistan, such as the 2006 railway bombings in Mumbai, the financial and cultural capital, that killed more than 200 people.

Tuesday's bombings occurred just over a week before India's foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee, is to visit the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, to review the peace process. It will be his first visit since a new government took over in Pakistan.

There has been recent fighting in the disputed and divided Kashmir region. India alleged this week that Islamist fighters had been trying to sneak over the border.

Television images from Jaipur showed police holding back crowds of angry onlookers from the blast areas, where blood darkened the pavement amid mangled rickshaws and motorcycles.

"I saw a small baby with his features charred. There was so much blood. It was total pandemonium," said Ram Rattan, 37, a driver for one of the jewelry shops in the old city, who was at the site of a Hanuman temple where a bomb exploded. "I rushed to the hospital to give blood because I had seen so many children suffering. Everyone was rushing into their homes."

The body of a newlywed woman dressed in a red wedding sari and marriage bangles lay on the road. The Press Trust of India reported that doctors were using mobile phones of the dead to inform their relatives. There was a shortage of ambulances, and witnesses said not all of the victims received treatment.

The local hospital appeared to be in chaos, witnesses said, with people screaming for doctors and blood for transfusions. One Hindu priest was weeping after his elderly father, wounded in the attack, had died. Television also showed bodies of the dead being dragged on the hospital floor as the injured were carried in with shrapnel wounds. A man in protective gear was seen disabling bombs as the Muslim call to prayer sounded in the background.

"India has 1 billion people, and we don't know when and where these terrorists will escape the police's watch. But it is clear that this blast was a conspiracy and a preplanned attack," Sriprakash Jaiswal, deputy home minister, said at a news conference. He said the government had increased security across the nation, with a high alert in cities including New Delhi and Mumbai.

National Security Guard officials have been dispatched to Jaipur, Jaiswal said.

By sunrise, investigators had cordoned off the walled city. With thousands in panic, a curfew was imposed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. to clear for the investigation, but it was proving futile.

Nizam Khan, 39, a driver, said: "We all froze. Obviously, everyone feels scared. There's a lot of brotherhood here, but terrorism shakes up all communities."

The first bomb Tuesday went off just after 7:35 p.m., outside a police station and near a market filled with people heading home from work and families shopping after sundown to avoid the blazing heat.

The second blast occurred near the city's most famous sweet shop, according to Indian news channel CNN-IBN.

Soon after, another bomb exploded outside the Hanuman temple, a popular Hindu place of worship that is especially crowded with devotees on Tuesdays, considered an auspicious day for followers of the deity. The attack seemed to fit a larger pattern in India of targeting places of worship during religious occasions that draw dense crowds. Many said the attack was similar to a twin blast in the holy city of Varanasi on March 7, 2006, that took place at a temple packed with devotees.

Other blasts occurred near a popular jewelry market and close to Jaipur's most famous landmark, the historic Hawa Mahal, or Palace of Winds.

Pankaj Singh, the police inspector general, told reporters that the "medium-intensity" bombs were most likely placed on bicycles and within about 500 yards of one another.

The attacks in Jaipur appeared to be part of a trend of attacks against smaller cities with smaller police forces, terrorism experts said.