Restaurant Bomb Blasts Kills Nine in Pune

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PUNE, India- Nine people died and about 60 were injured in a bomb attack at a restaurant popular with tourists in the city of Pune.

The powerful bomb left in a backpack under a table at the German Bakery, and which killed two foreigners, is the first major terrorist strike in India after the three-day siege of nearby Mumbai in November 2008 in which 166 people died.  “It appears that an unattended package was noticed in the bakery by one of the waiters who apparently attempted to open it, denoting the bomb inside,” federal home secretary Gk Pillai said after Saturday’s blast. Vinod Dhale, a restaurant worker, said “We heard a big noise and we all rushed out.  The impact was so great that there were body parts everywhere”.

Six people died instantly while the other three fell to injuries at local hospitals.  Home minister P Chidambaram described the bomb as ” a significant terrorist incident”, stating that the evidence pointed to a well planned plot.  Chidambaram said one or two people acting as customers had left the backpack carrying the bomb inside the bakery.

Preliminary investigations indicate the bomb was denoted remotely, possibly by a mobile phone.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.  A security red alert has been issued in the capital New Delhi, Indore, and Kanpur in the east following intelligence alerts of possible terror strikes in all three places.

Senior security officials suspect the culprits are the Pakistan-based Lashkahr-i-Taiba (LiT, or the Army of the Pure) terrorist group which India holds responsible for executing the Mumbai attack and on “sleeper” cadres of a local militant group called Indian Mujahideen (IM) which it often used.  Security officials said both groups are known to have worked together in the past with the LiT providing the funding and planning to carry out deadly bombing in crowded places.

The blast in Pune comes a day after India and Pakistan agreed to meet for talks in Delhi on February 25th, giving rise to speculation that terror groups were once again trying to derail bilateral peace talks which could eventually lead to action against them.

India has so far refrained from blaming Pakistan directly.

For more information, please see:

ABC News- Restaurant Bomb Blasts Kills 9 In India -15 February 2010

IRISHTIMES.COM- Bomb Blast Kills Nine In Restaurant In Western India– 15 February 2010

BBC NEWS- India Restaurant Bomb Blast Kills Nine in Pune – 15 February 2010

Author: Impunity Watch Archive