8 dead in Pune blast, cops suspect terror angle

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Terror targets Pune

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Parwinder Sandhu/TN Raghunatha | Pune/Mumbai

9 killed, 45 injured in german bakery blast



In the first major terror strike after the 26/11 attacks, nine persons — including four foreigners — were killed and 45 others injured, when a high-intensity explosion rocked a landmark joint “German Bakery” at the posh Koregaon Park locality at Pune on Saturday evening.



The blast — believed to have been triggered by an IED kept in an abandoned bag — took place at German Bakery at 6.56 pm. Significantly enough, the German Bakery is located in the vicinity of Osho Ashram and the Jewish Centre “Chabad House”.



Eyewitnesses said the IED went off when a waiter at the fashionable bakery-cum-restaurant went to pick up an unattended baggage left on a table by a customer. The bakery is a favourite joint of the foreign tourists visiting Pune. There were “50 to 60” customers inside the congested bakery when the incident took place.



Though there was no official word till 11.30 pm on the identities of the persons killed in the blast, sources said there were five foreigners — including four women — among those killed in the mishap.



The injured have been admitted to the State-run Sassoon Hospital, Jehangir Hospital, Ruby Hall Clinic and Inlaks & Badhrani Hospital. Of the injured, the condition of at least four to five persons was said to be serious.



Though there was no official confirmation as to who might have been behind the attack, there were pointers to suggest that the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) might have had a role to play in the attacks.



For, LeT operative David Coleman Headley — who had allegedly carried out reconnaissance for the 26/11 attacks and some other possible terror strikes — had surveyed both Osho Ashram and Chabad House, during his two visits to Pune between June 2008 and March 2009. In fact, Headley had stayed at Hotel Surya Villa, which is in the walking distance of the explosion site, the Osho Ashram and Chabad House.



According to intelligence agency sources, Headley’s visit to Pune was part of a larger plan to strike at upmarket hotels and Jewish centres. Headley had reportedly visited Chabad House posing himself as a Jew. The Chabad House connection should be seen in the light of the fact that one of the targeted sites in the 26/11 attacks was Nariman House, also a Jewish centre, at Colaba in south Mumbai.



What was initially suspected a cylinder blast at German Bakery turned out to be a high-intensity explosion - a fact that Pune’s Joint Police Commissioner Rajendra Sonwane confirmed with an hour of the incident. “Prima facie, we suspect the incident was a bomb blast. The nationalities of the persons killed have so far not been established yet,” Sonawane told media persons.



Within three hours of the blast, the State Anti-Terrorism Squad took over the investigations. The ATS is being assisted by the National Investigation Agency - which had earlier probed Headley’s visit to Pune. Forensic teams from the State police and CBI have rushed to Pune to assist the investigators.



Though the investigators have not detained any one in connection with the incident, the police said that they were eliciting details of the incident from the cashier as the hotel.



The police, however, recovered a live explosive from an unclaimed bag left in an auto-rickshaw parked in the vicinity of the blast site.



Minister of State for Home Ramesh Bagwe was among the first few persons to reach the blast site. While State Home Minister RR Patil and Maharashtra ATS chief KP Raghuvanshi were expected to reach later in the night. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who is currently in Chennai, is likely to visit Pune on Sunday.



Meanwhile, the Pune city and other parts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, have been put on a high alert.