Series of blasts kill 29, injure 88 in western India

AHMADABAD, India – Bombs exploded Saturday near a busy market and a hospital in a western Indian city, killing 29 people and injuring 88 a day after deadly blasts struck the southern technology hub of Bangalore.

A group calling itself the Indian Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack but offered few other details in e-mails sent to several television news stations, the CNN-IBN station reported.

The group was unknown before May when it said it was behind a series of bombings in Jaipur, also in western India, that left 61 people dead.

In its latest e-mail, the group reportedly made no mention of the smaller bombings Friday in Banglaore and it was not clear if the two attacks were connected.

At least 16 bombs went off Saturday evening in several crowded neighborhoods of Ahmadabad – a crowded and historic city that in 2002 was the scene of some of the worst rioting between India’s Hindu majority and its Muslim minority.

The bombs went off in two separate spates. The first, near a busy market, left some of the dead sprawled beside stands piled high with fruit, next to twisted bicycles and in public squares. The second went off near a hospital.

Narenda Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat state where Ahmadabad is located, called the blasts “a crime against humanity.”

Prithviraj Chavan, a junior minister in the prime minister’s office, called the explosions “deplorable” and said they were set off by people “bent upon creating a communal divide in the country.”

The militants’ attacks are believed to be an attempt to provoke violence between India’s Hindu majority and the Muslim minority.

“Anti-national elements have been trying to create panic among the people of our country. Today’s blasts in Ahmadabad seem to be part of the same strategy,” federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil told reporters in New Delhi.

Those fears were amplified by the history of Ahmadabad’s 2002 riots between Muslims and Hindus. That violence killed about 1,000 people, most of them Muslims. It was triggered by a fire that killed 60 passengers on a train packed with Hindu pilgrims.

Hindu extremists blamed the deaths on Muslims and rampaged through Muslim neighborhoods, although the cause of the blaze remains unclear.

Ahmadabad is also known for the elegant architecture of its mosques and mausoleums, a rich blend of Muslim and Hindu styles. It was founded in the 15th century.

The government put out an alert warning other cities of the possibility of attacks similar to those that struck Ahmadabad and Bangalore.