Six people were killed and more than 40 injured in a series of blasts in Patna before Narendra Modi’s rally in the Bihar capital on Sunday.
Several of the blasts occurred in and around Gandhi Maidan, the venue of the BJP’s prime ministerial nominee’s rally.
Several of the blasts occurred in and around Gandhi Maidan, the venue of the BJP’s prime ministerial nominee’s rally.
The first blast was a crude bomb explosion at Patna junction platform number 10 around 10am. By 12.41pm, seven more blasts took place near Gandhi Maidan.
The bombs near Gandhi Maidan were triggered off by timers. The explosives had been planted at three different sides of the venue, where lakhs of people had gathered for the BJP’s Hunkar (battle-cry) rally.
Following the blasts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to chief minister Nitish Kumar, even as a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) rushed to Patna.
The BJP demanded a probe into the blasts, calling it a design to create panic and scuttle the rally.
“This is really unfortunate. We want a probe into the blasts,” said the BJP’s national spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain.
This is the first time serial blasts have occurred at Gandhi Maidan during a political rally in the past two decades.
Bihar was witness to serial blasts at the Mahabodhi temple in Gaya on July 7. Eight low-intensity blasts occurred inside the ancient Buddhist pilgrimage site. Nobody was killed.
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