The buzzing city of Bangalore was almost paralyzed with a series of eight low intensity blasts across the city on Friday afternoon, 25 July, that killed one person and left seven injured. The places targeted include Madivala checkpost, the adjoining Adugodi area, Mysore Road, Koramangala, Vittal Mallya Road, Langford Town and Richmond Circle. This was the second terrorist attack in Karnataka this year, the first being a bomb explosion in the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Hubli on 10 May that caused extensive damage to the property although no casualty was reported.

How different are the Bangalore blasts from other previous blasts?

Initial forensic reports reveal the use of urea and ammonium nitrate along with nuts and bolts packed in as shrapnel for the bombs. Unlike in the Mecca Masjid blast (May 2007), Lumbini and the Gokul chaat blasts (August 2007) in Andhra Pradesh (AP), where a mix of slurry, ammonium nitrate and emulsifier were used, the Bangalore blasts used dry ammonium nitrate powder mixed with diesel that reduced its impact considerably. Also, unlike in AP where mobile phones and clocks were used to trigger the bomb, an electronic chip card was used in Bangalore which is now under study. Significantly, the latest blasts including Uttar Pradesh court blasts (November 2007), Jaipur (May 2008), Bangalore and Ahmedabad (July 2008) indicate a shift from the use of RDX in earlier blasts such as in the Varanasi (March 2006), Malegaon (September 2006) and Mumbai blasts (July 2006). Analysts contend that this is intended to camouflage Pakistan's signature from the explosives. Separately, an unexploded bomb that was later diffused near Forum Mall in Koramangala was found to be manufactured in Andhra Pradesh Explosives Limited of Hyderabad.

How widespread is the terror network in Karnataka?

Recent developments in Karnataka indicate that the state has emerged as a hub of the proscribed group Student Islamic movement of India (SIMI). At first, a training camp organized by SIMI's South India chief Hafiz Hussain was discovered near Hubli in Karnataka last April. Training is said to have been imparted in basic jungle craft and principles of bomb-making among other things at the camp. Two secret meetings were also held near Hubli in November 2007 attended by over 25 SIMI activists from Karnataka, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. Thereafter, the Karnataka police arrested Mohammed Yahya Kammakutty alias Yahya Khan, suspected to be a top functionary of SIMI in charge of mobilizing recruits in Bangalore, in February 2008. The interrogation of Yahya Khan provided links to several techies working with the SIMI in Bangalore, belying speculation over 'outsiders' operating in India and adding thereby to the repository of software engineers getting associated with SIMI. A month later, Hussain along with other top functionaries of SIMI in the south were also arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police. Despite the arrests, the state of Karnataka continued to receive intelligence warnings against possible terror attacks in the state. On 26 May 2008, the Karnataka intelligence bureau alerted the police to the existence of three terror modules and various sleeper cells in the state. The areas mentioned as hubs of sleeper cells include Bangalore, Hampi, Hospet, Mysore, Mangalore, Davangere, Hubli, Mulabagil, Kolar, Chikamagalur, Udupi, Gulbarga, Bijapur, Bidar, Goa and Kalghatgi areas.

Apart from SIMI, the hand of the banned outfit Al Ummah, a Tamil Nadu-based organization notorious for its involvement in the Coimbatore blasts in 1998, also cannot not be ruled out. In August 2007, the Special Court, Coimbatore had convicted Al Ummah founder SA Basha and 152 others found guilty in the blasts. The latest blasts could also be a reaction of this group against the verdict. Significantly, three of its members were killed in a police encounter, a couple of years ago in Sanjaynagar for allegedly plotting to blast the famous International Society for Krishna Consciousness temple in Rajajinagar.

Is there any particular reason why Bangalore was targeted?

Aside from the recent trend in terrorist attacks of striking anywhere, anytime and the particular vulnerability of Bangalore as a target owing to its thriving IT sector, there is a specific reason why Karnataka features high on the terror scan. At least a dozen cases involving terror suspects of SIMI have been registered in the Hubli court since January this year. The trial of Yahya Khan and Shibli are ongoing in the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Hubli, explaining in turn the explosion in May, at the court. Even Sabauddin, the main suspect behind the Indian Institute of Science attack in Bangalore (December 2005), Sabauddin is being investigated in an undisclosed location in Bangalore. In light of these facts, the intelligence agencies are exploring whether the attack were retaliatory in nature. As such was also mentioned in the email sent by the Indian Mujahideen ahead of the Ahmedabad blasts which demanded the release of people arrested in probes against the SIMI from four places, Indore, Karnataka, Mumbai and Ujjain. This further suggests a link between the Ahmedabad and Bangalore blasts, elevating the scale of terror operations in the country to an unprecedented level.