Seven bomb blasts kill 80, wound 200 in northwest India
No group takes responsibility for Jaipur attacks
NEW DELHI - Seven bombs exploded last night in a crowded and ancient section of the northwestern Indian city of Jaipur, killing at least 80 people and wounding about 200 others, officials said.
No group immediately took responsibility for the attacks, and it was not clear what the motive might be.
Government counterterrorism analysts say that attacks like these have become more common - often occurring every three to five months - in Indian cities in recent years and appear to be carried out by disgruntled Muslim youth. The attacks are intended to deepen sectarian divisions between Hindus and Muslims and often occur in mixed neighborhoods, near mosques or temples.
Officials differentiate between the attacks and those believed to be set up by Islamic militants from Pakistan. Among that group was the 2006 bombing of seven commuter trains and railway stations in Mumbai, the country's financial and cultural capital, which killed more than 200 people.
Television images from Jaipur showed police holding back crowds of angry onlookers from the areas of the blast, where blood spots darkened the pavement amid mangled rickshaws and motorcycles.
The local hospital appeared to be in chaos, witnesses said, with people screaming for doctors and blood for transfusions.
"India has a 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," said Sriprakash Jaiswal, deputy home minister, at a televised news conference.
National security guard officials were dispatched to Jaipur, Jaiswal said.
The first blast yesterday went off just after 7:35 p.m., outside a police station and near a market filled with people headed home from work and families shopping after sundown.
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 a Hanuman temple, a popular Hindu place of worship. Another blast took place near two bustling markets.
