A series of explosions went off in Jaipur’s old city today, killing at least 60 people and wounding another 150 (thanks, Rob). Via CNN:
The seven explosions started at about 7:30 p.m. (1400 GMT, 1000 ET) and detonated within 12 minutes of each other, police said.
The bombs exploded within about 500 meters (0.3 mile) of each other in Jaipur’s old city, which is frequented by tourists…
An eighth bomb was defused, according to H.G. Raghavendra, a Jaipur city official. He described all the bombs as “medium intensity.”
“There is no reason to panic,” he told CNN-IBN. “Everything is under control.”
The Associated Press says it was actually six bombs and the seventh was defused. I’ve also seen different numbers for how many casualties the bombing caused.
Ruthless timing:
One of the blasts in Jaipur hit a market near a temple dedicated to the Hindu monkey god Hanuman, according to police. Tuesday is the day of worship set aside for Hanuman, and the temple was packed with people offering prayers on the way home from work.[AP]
No group has stepped forward yet to claim credit for the horrific, dastardly act, which Reuters said is “the deadliest bomb (attack) in India in nearly two years”. If you have relatives in, friends visiting or are otherwise connected to the Pink City, you are in my thoughts.
Developing…
And I’d just recommended this to a friend last night as one of the most relaxing and peaceful places I’d been in India.
Just heard the news on NPR – very, very sad. It’s seems as though whoever it is, is targeting a different Indian city every few months.
(Welcome back Anna! Where have you been?)
Anna:
Where have you been all these weeks. We’ve missed you!
So, I guess this means some government official will have to change the date on that press release they keep ready, the one that says how India will not stand for this kind of attack. And tomorrow, everyone goes about their business.
Anna: We all missed you ! Welcome back. Apparently the new Taliban have not only infiltrated Pakistan but some major North Indian cities. Back in 1998 we all were in the old city quarters of Jaipur where Abhi was mesmerized by a real street snake charmer. Jaipur is a beautiful city with its pink Hawa Mahal and other landmarks such as the Statue of Rana Pratap, and largest Movie theatre in Asia. As always it is the innocents who are victims of these cowardly acts by the terrorists. I pray for the peace.
So true!! The terrorists are at least doing their job, no matter how twisted. The spineless bunch of limpsters in the Govt. will do nothing.
Except make sure they have access to the VVIP lounge at the airports, and sirens on top of their cars, so they can whiz by the common folk.
Along with no fly zones over their residences a la Mayawati.
Not just the government officials. Even the newspapers and their editors, I guess would change the date and venue and repeat the same garbage. I lost count of how many times there were major multiple bomb blasts over the last few years.
2 · ek ajnabi said
Ek Ajnabi, Desi77 and Yo Dad– I missed all of you, too. Thank you for the very sweet welcome home.
I don’t want to threadjack a post which is so serious, but I do want to acknowledge all your kindnes. I feel lowed.
ANNA: I was wondering about you as well. I am glad you are back. Hugs.
[blue] welcome back Anna 🙂
Just talked with my family in Jaipur… Apparently, if it had been earlier in the day… it could’ve been a lot worse.
Hard to believe I was at Johori Bazaar 6 weeks ago.
Only one Pakistan or muslim mention in the first 13 posts? I’m impressed. Maybe I should start coming back here again.
14 · alybaba said
People died. There’s a time and a place for snark. This ain’t it.
Isn’t it amazing alybaba that with your post you increased that number by 200%. Maybe you should stay away.
16 · amaun said
All are welcome. Let’s get back on track, please?
Lusterbee, thanks for your comment. A tiny bit of good, amid so much bad.
This is absolutely shocking, I was there in late January and it was packed with locals and tourists from all over. It just seemed like a place to go to shop, bargain and enjoy good food. The locals were friendly and very engaging and helpful.
Author David Frum claims that in the 21st Century, America will continue to strengthen relations with India. I wonder how the “War on Terror” will play out in Bharat.
Thank you for posting this Anna. I missed you.
When I read this earlier on CNN it broke my heart. Jaipur is such a earthy, beautiful and old city full of history and culture. I was there in December and it’s sad to think this is happening now.
Unfortunately at this time of the year with the intense heat the people killed/injured must be all locals, not many tourists. Sad.
Please don’t point finger at Pakistan, SP caters to Pakistani readers too and wish not to offend them. Feel free to be anti-semitic, SP does not mind that.
20 · Janeofalltrades said
It’s about time that the USA strengthens ties with the Desh. I’ve noticed an upturn around ’99, a little bit after the nuclear bombs exploded (and after it was realized that the sanctions didn’t affect India). I’ve noticed that the USA was very pro-Pakistani prior to that at the expense of the Indians. Whenever western sources did a story on Kashmir, it always had a pro-Pakistani bias towards it. In ’00, Bill clinton visited India, and this legitimized the USA’s friendly overtures towards India.
The USA and India can be very good friends, better trading partners, and the best thing for one another for mutual strength, cooperation, and maintenance of world peace.
19 · Rahul S on May 13, 2008 06:04 PM · Direct link · “Quoteâ€(?)
Author David Frum claims that in the 21st Century, America will continue to strengthen relations with India. I wonder how the “War on Terror” will play out in Bharat.
It’s about time that the USA strengthens ties with the Desh. I’ve noticed an upturn around ’99, a little bit after the nuclear bombs exploded (and after it was realized that the sanctions didn’t affect India). I’ve noticed that the USA was very pro-Pakistani prior to that at the expense of the Indians. Whenever western sources did a story on Kashmir, it always had a pro-Pakistani bias towards it. In ’00, Bill clinton visited India, and this legitimized the USA’s friendly overtures towards India.
The USA and India can be very good friends, better trading partners, and the best thing for one another for mutual strength, cooperation, and maintenance of world peace.
21 · DesiInNJ said
SP? How awful that this “SP” is anti-semitic. Thank goodness SM isn’t. Mind it.
Are there any reports yet on who is responsible for the bombings? Radical Jains or maybe the Parsees? I’m totally open-minded and I’m not going to leap to any ridiculous conclusions by assuming any specific religious group is behind this.
25 JGandhi said
I know what you were attempting to do, but I don’t find your comment productive.
My life is too short to babysit. If we can’t have civil conversations, I’ll disable comments on my posts entirely.
anna – welcome back.
aww come on. JGandhi has a valid point. Who are the terrorists. for all we know they could be Naxalites.
Last issue of Business Week shows Naxalites not active in this area thus leaving one likely suspect, but don’t say it yet.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_20/b4084044508540.htm
Although I have never visited the grand (at least it looks and sounds like a beautiful area from what I have heard from friends and relatives) city of Jaipur, this is very tragic for the families and friends of the deceased.
I am unsure of what effect this terrible event will have on travel, tourism, business/commerce in that area or all of India for that matter.
With all the suffering going on in Asia, East, Southeast, and South, over the last two weeks, I feel disillusioned. Tragedy strikes, people barely manage to build themselves up, then it happens again. It’s deflating to realize there may be no actual solution, because one person’s solution becomes someone else’s problem. The blame game usually doesn’t serve a purpose, especially pitting one religion against another. Happened throughout history, didn’t solve much. It feels like we’re living in one very large Rubik’s Cube.
Do you lot think you’re clever with the sly references to Islam? Not every Muslim is a terrorist. Your comments are exactly why I left for two months. You’re not that witty, with the Parsi and Naxalite shit. So what if the people behind this atrocity are a group which misuses Islam for its aims? Are you going to disavow every shitty thing done in the name of Hinduism? No? Every religion, mine included, is flawed and abused by those who are more interested in their ends than the glory of their faith.
Dozens of people are dead. Hundreds are wounded. But let’s disrespect such a grave situation by giving in to our worst impulses.
thanks anna, none of my news alert mention this. part of my team’s there. just left messages to see if everything is alright.
22 · boston_mahesh said
USA has made short sighted disastrous foreign policies, especially since the past few decades… be it strengthening of taliban in the 80s or financial support of Pak. India and US are potentially natural allies in education and commerce and should work together for the betterment of the world.
The authorities have blamed Student Islamic Movement of India SIMI and Bangladesh based Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islamia.
Of Course not, but terrorist in India are predominantly Muslims.
35 · Samir said
Right. So why state the obvious unless you’ve got an axe to grind? This is an American blog and some of you are forgetting that in this country, Christian Malayalees, Punjabi Sikhs and Kashmiri Hindus who were born and raised here get yanked out of airport lines and searched, just like they are evil terrorists.
Enough. Seriously. Whatever some of you are trying to do is pointless. Terrorism is the sport of cowards and criminals, but it’s easy to write it off as the act of “those people”, isn’t it?
35 · Samir said
Predominantly?
25 · JGandhi said
I never knew my peeps (Jains) are radical & bomb stuff. That’s a first.
22 · boston_mahesh said
Yea, ever since the days of Nixon, U.S.A has been pro Pakistan.
27 · melbourne desi said
Jews.
It’s again time for thousands innocent Muslim youth to go into hiding otherwise they will be killed in police encounter or in die custody.
Remember last week all accused in the Bombay riots were acquitted and those who were involved in Bombay blasts were sentenced to death. Where is justice for minorities in India?
why does it bother you so much if the truth is that Paki or Indian Muslims have been behind nearly all recent terrorist attacks in India. Or is the truth so uncomfortable. Terrorist attacks happen repeatedly coz the indian state does not have the courage to take on the terrorists. It is true that these terrorists are fudned by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia who last time I checked were States that followed Islamic law or some such variant. Talking about radicalization of the Muslims in India – when visiting Kerala last month I was deeply disturbed by the number of black burqas. This was a state where Muslim women are mostly treated with respect and have not been subject to strong segregation. Quite often, I see that ABD’s Hindus raised in the USA have strong distaste towards Christians and that is due to the predominantly fundamentalist nature of Christianity in the USA. A distaste that I have not felt in India. So, does that mean that the Christianity bashing is not without logic? JGandhi has been a pro- Hindu commenter and with good reason. Appeasement of minorities has been rather strong amongst vote pandering politicians. Relax, you are being overly sensitive on what is a real issue – the radicalization of Indian Muslims. No personal comments were used, so I dont see the need for such a reaction. The situation of Indian Muslims is quite nuanced and you getting offended does not help the discussion. Note that this comment comes from someone who was raised with Muslim friends / has had Muslim subordinates and bosses (not now). This may not sit with your world view of Islam being good but as SM commenters have pointed out a religion is perceived by the behaviour of its followers.
Unlikely. This is Rajasthan not Andhra Pradesh. See Naxal Affected Districts.
The Indian government will blame Pakistan as usual, without any real investigation. The press will somehow cast this as payback for a Hindu extremeist attack. The Hindu extremists will blame all Muslims.
Business as usual in India.
yawn.
The truth does not bother me. Assumptions, intolerance, ignorance, people who don’t wash their hands after they make soo-soo…all that bothers me.
Be that as it may, but so? I’m Christian. Should I carry a mantle of blame for Jerry Falwell’s verbal diarrhea? Are all Hindus guilty if a few evil people plan and carry out a pogrom? Why isn’t rage directed at terrorists vs. an entire faith?
Uh…yeah, it is without logic. We once had a commenter here who had exactly that attitude towards Christianity; he was a huge troll.
I am hardly being hyper-sensitive about comments which violate our clearly stated rules for participation. I agree that radicalization is a real issue, so forget my getting offended, how was the direction in which this thread was headed helping the discussion?
Melbourne Desi, there is no need to qualify your remarks. I haven’t always agreed with you, but I do respect you.
This has nothing to do with my world view. This has to do with being civil. I don’t believe Islam is either “good” or “bad”; who thinks like that? I believe Islam is a religion with many adherents, a few of whom are my friends.
You mean the behavior of SOME of its followers, right?
::
It’s not string theory. I’m sick of explaining why certain comments are inappropriate. Perhaps they were not “personal”, but they were still blatant violations of our commenting policy, so I am hardly getting annoyed for no reason. Muslims read this blog. How do you think they feel when things like this happen?
Perhaps a few of you mice had a great time leaving intolerant remarks because the cat was away and we were short-staffed. Mazel tov. That doesn’t mean I’ll entertain such behavior now. I have a zero-tolerance policy for Summer’s Eve-related shenanigans.
I’m closing comments for now and reopening them in the morning, when I can watch over them;it’s a pity that a group of educated adults requires so much supervision as they discuss a tragedy. I’m seriously considering not enabling comments on my posts in the first place; this thread is helping me realize that I might need to do that, despite my long-stated resistance to such a decision.epoch #43 wrote:
They are blaming Bangladesh this time. One reason why Muslim terrorists are possibly being blamed is because the incident occurred on a Tuesday–Hanuman’s day– and the incident happened near the Hanuman mandir.
melbourne desi said:
Edward Luce writes about this in his book–about the gulf returned and the Saudi influence.
rahul s ecrit:
Maybe not bomb, but again from Luce’s book, have a strangely skewed male:female ratio. As Luce puts it, these are people who would not otherwise want to hurt a fly.
Its people that are going nowhere who are the ones blowing others up. it does not matter what religion people are, people died, someone’s father, mother, brother, sister. As the song said, “why do you teach our children hate? The WORLD will look at you, and surpass your understanding”.
42 · melbourne desi said
Well Said Sir!!
With such an Obtuse view of the political situations in India and Pakistan, I’m surprised the author is a “respected” blogger at SM. Lets look at the sequence of events as they unfolded before the day of the blasts….Political unrest in Pakistan….Sharif’s party will remove support, the ruling party looks hapless…..suddenly the Indians complain of “Unprovoked Firing” from Pakistan’s side of the LOC……… more political unrest…..the blasts happen in India on the anniversary of the Pokharan tests.
Why cant you get it? The Army in Pakistan is itching to get back in power, it is their variant of votebank politics.
Most Sane people here are stating the obvious truth and the Author is not ready to listen to the harsh reality….that makes me wonder why did she have to post this story in the first place if she has no stomach for the reactions it would garner…..It doesn’t take an Einstein to figure the kind of responses that would come in.
PS: Ravi Shankar….people like you are the scum of Hinduism.
50 · zacofalltrades said
I didn’t write anything about the “situations” in those two countries, because I am not from there, nor have I ever claimed to be. It seems like you are projecting your issues on to my simple update to this blog, which I posted in order to let our readers know something tragic had happened. Nothing more. All I did was enforce our commenting policy. Nothing more.
You are surprised that stupid-me gets respect, eh? I don’t need your nastiness, not here, not in the angry email you sent this morning, and not on my personal blog, where you left a rather unfair and unnecessary tirade. Contrary to what you have tried to scream at me twice today, I don’t owe you anything.
If you are so passionate about what you think, please state your views without including me, thanks. In fact, why don’t we all do that? Back on topic, please.