2 killed, several injured in serial blasts in Agartala
Panic gripped the entire capital of Agartala and people ran for shelter soon after the blasts. No group had claimed responsibility for the blasts. Agartala blasts
By Agencies |
AGARTALA: At least two persons were killed and 40 injured on Wednesday night in a string of five blasts set off here by suspected terrorists in a space of five minutes.
The blasts went off at Agartala's main shopping area Maharaja Ganju Bazar, Gobind Ballah Pant market, busy Radhanagar bus stand, Agartala Motorstand and Abhay Nagar localities. Panic gripped the entire capital of Agartala and people ran for shelter soon after the blasts.
Most of the victims were shopping on the eve of Eid-al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, deputy inspector general of police Nepal Das said.
Television footage showed men carrying bleeding victims including women to hospitals. Police cordoned off the blast spots as shopkeepers downed shutters. No group had claimed responsibility for the blasts.
Bomb squads and forensic experts examined the blast sites.
"At least two of the blasts were powerful," Das said, adding that the serial explosions were the first such attacks in Tripura.
Ten of those hurt were in critical condition, he said.
Police said they suspected militant groups, based in neighbouring Bangladesh, behind the blasts.
The state was on alert for possible attacks ahead of Durga Puja. A wave of bomb attacks has hit India in recent months, killing more than 125 people.
Last month, troops killed at least seven heavily armed militants from a Bangladesh-based militant group in a gunbattle in Assam.
The blasts went off at Agartala's main shopping area Maharaja Ganju Bazar, Gobind Ballah Pant market, busy Radhanagar bus stand, Agartala Motorstand and Abhay Nagar localities. Panic gripped the entire capital of Agartala and people ran for shelter soon after the blasts.
Most of the victims were shopping on the eve of Eid-al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, deputy inspector general of police Nepal Das said.
Television footage showed men carrying bleeding victims including women to hospitals. Police cordoned off the blast spots as shopkeepers downed shutters. No group had claimed responsibility for the blasts.
Bomb squads and forensic experts examined the blast sites.
"At least two of the blasts were powerful," Das said, adding that the serial explosions were the first such attacks in Tripura.
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Ten of those hurt were in critical condition, he said.
Police said they suspected militant groups, based in neighbouring Bangladesh, behind the blasts.
The state was on alert for possible attacks ahead of Durga Puja. A wave of bomb attacks has hit India in recent months, killing more than 125 people.
Last month, troops killed at least seven heavily armed militants from a Bangladesh-based militant group in a gunbattle in Assam.
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