NIA team arrives in Bodh Gaya to probe serial blasts

GAYA: An NIA team today arrived in Bodh Gaya to probe the terror attack at the world famous Mahabodhi temple and adjoining areas, a police officer said.

The five-member NIA team comprising a DIG and two SPs reached here by a special plane from New Delhi and drove straight to the Mahabodhi temple to start investigations, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Gaya Range, Nayyar Hasnain Khan, said.

None of the NIA officials spoke to the waiting media and briskly walked towards the famous Buddhist shrine.

Nine serial blasts, four of them in Mahabodhi temple, had rocked the temple town earlier today leaving two monks injured.

Meanwhile, terming the series of blasts at Mahabodhi temple complex in Bihar as "unfortunate", Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama today said "few individuals" could be behind the attack.

"The incident is really unfortunate," he said, adding that few individuals could be responsible for the attack.

The Tibetan government-in-exile said it was deeply saddened over the blasts.

"I am deeply saddened to learn about the series of bomb blasts at Mahabodhi temple. My prayers for the injured and their family members", Prime Minister of the government-in-exile Lobsang Sangay said in a statement here.

Nine low-intensity blasts took place early in the morning in quick succession at the 1,500-year-old Mahabodhi temple, annually visited by millions of pilgrims from all over the world. Two monks were injured in the attack.