The serial blasts of September 13, 2008, at New Delhi, which are still under investigation by the local Police, have been followed by three stand-alone (not serial) explosions at Mehrauli in Delhi on September27, 2008, at Modasa in the Sabarkantha district of Gujarat and at Malegaon in Maharashtra on September 29 and an orchestrated series of four blasts and two failed blasts at Agartala, the capital of thestate of Tripura bordering Bangladesh, on the night of October 1.
The blasts of September 29 were in areas with a strong Muslim presence and resulted in many casualties in the local Muslim community. The blast in Delhi and those in Agartala took place in areas where members of different communities live. Tripura has a large presence of Muslim illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
The modus operandi used in the Delhi and Modasa blasts were similar. The timed improvised explosive device (IED) was kept inside a container and dropped in full public view at the scene of explosion by two unidentified men on a motorcycle. A young boy was blown up in Delhi when he picked up the bag containing the IED container thinking it had accidentally fallen from the motor-cycle and tried to call out to the motor-cyclists that they had dropped a bag. At Modasa too, a bag with a container having an IED inside was dropped on the scene in full public view by two motor-cyclists. The IED exploded in the hands of a local Muslim by-stander as he picked up the bag and was examining its contents. He and one other person were killed. The same morning, the Ahmedabad Police recovered 17 unexploded crude explosive devices at Kalupur in the old city area.
The blast in Malegaon, which had earlier been the target of a terrorist strike involving IEDs inSeptember, 2006, took place near a hotel in Bhikku Chowk around 9-45 PM.The IED was reportedly planted in a motorcycle, which was kept near the site. Four persons werekilled--all Muslims. The blast led to protest demonstrations by some members of the local Muslim community during which some policemen were reportedly injured.
As the Police in Delhi, Modasa and Malegaon were trying to find out--without success sofar-- as to who were responsible for these blasts-- four serial blasts orchestrated between 7-30 PM and 8-15 PM were reported from Agartala on the night of October 1. According to media reports, the first explosion took place around 7.30 pm at the Radhanagar bus stand. Minutes later, there was another blast at Maharajganj Bazar in the heart of the city. The two are about 2 kms apart. Two bombs were found at the Motor Stand and the Colonel Choumohany area near the palace compound.As the injured were being taken to the Agartala Government Medical College hospital, another blast rocked GB Bazar, which is on the route of the ambulances taking the injured to the hospital. A similar modus operandi of attacking ambulances carrying the victims to hospitals was followed by the terrorists in Ahmedabad on July 26 when a local hospital, where the injured were being taken, wastargeted. The fourth blast at 8.15 pm was near the Kathiababa Ashram on the outskirts of thestate capital. There was a heavy rush of Hindu puja (a religious ceremony starting on October 4) and Muslim Id shoppers at the Radhanagar bus stand, Maharajganj Bazar and GB market, all in the heart of the city, at the time of the explosions. Four persons were killed and 76 injured.
All these explosions since September 27 have coincided with the last days of the Muslim fasting period of Ramzan, which ended on October 1, and the beginning on October 4 of the Hindu religious festival of Navratri. The blasts at Modasa and Malegaon seemed to have been timed to coincide with the Muslim fasting period. The blasts took place as the local Muslims were coming out to break their fast. The serial blasts in Agartala coincided with the beginning of the preparations for the Hindu festival, when a large number of Hindus flock to market places to do their shopping for the festival. The blast at Delhi does not appear to have had any links with Muslim or Hindu religious festivities.
No organisation has so far claimed responsibility for any of these terrorist strikes. The so-called Indian Mujahideen (IM), which had sent to media channels messages claiming responsibility for all the previous serial blasts except those at Bangalore on July 25,2008, has not sent any such messages in connection with the blasts mentioned above.
The Agartala blasts have come in the wake of a visit to Shillong in the North-East by L.K.Advani, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on September 28 and 29. Before his visit, the local police and media reportedly received two E-mail messages holding out threats against him. One of these messages was from a local law student by name Mominul Haque. He was identified as the suspected originator of this message and arrested. The second message purported to be from what was described as the North-East branch of the IM. It was reportedly received by a local media house on September 25. The originator of the message gave his name as Ali Hussain Badr, field commander of the IM in the North-East. The message said: