Nine killed, 45 hurt in Pune terror blast

In the first major terror strike since the 2611 Mumbai carnage at least nine people including a foreigner were killed andu00a045 injured when a powerful bomb ripped through the landmark German Bakery in Punes upscale Koregaon Park on Saturday eveningThe blast occurred around 730 pm after a waiter at the bakerycumrestaurant a popular haunt of foreigners noticed an unattended packet lying in the premises The packet exploded when he attempted to open it Union Home Secretary GK Pillai told reporters in New Delhi The blast initially suspected to be due to a gas cylinder explosion engulfed the entire bakery in flames trapping many of the victims during the peak weekend business hour A sombre Home Minister P Chidambaram described the blast as a sad event the first significant terror incident in 14 months but cautioned against drawing any hasty conclusions as to its perpetrators Lets wait for the forensic results before we draw any conclusions Please dont speculate Chidambaram told reporters in Chennai He visited the blast site in Pune early Sunday Pillai said According to information received from the state police and Intelligence Bureau a bombexplosive occurred at the German Bakery around 730 pm Pillai said adding that eight people including a foreigner were killed and 32 were injured One of the injured later died in hospital A foreigner was also among the injured The nationalities of the foreigners are being ascertained he added Pillai said LashkareTaiba LeT operative David Coleman Headley had surveyed the area where the blast occurred but refused to immediately link the attack to any terror organisation Headley who is a suspect in the 2611 attacks is currently in a US jail The Osho Ashram situated barely 200 yards from the bakery was one of the sites surveyed by Lashkar operative David Headley Pillai said adding the central agencies had informed the Maharashtra Police on October 12 2009 about Headleys visit The Chabad House Jewish religious centre is also located near the blast site The Chabad House in Mumbai was also targeted during the 2611 attacks Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said security in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra had been beefed up Security has been tightened at all the locations which were surveyed by David Headley in Mumbai Pune and other places he added Asked if any specific inputs had been received about an impending terror strike Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said We are checking if there were intelligent inputs We get regular inputs but I do not know how specific they wereltslideshow_codegtAs per preliminary investigations at least 57 kg of explosives were triggered off by an improvised explosive device IED similar to the type used in the serial blasts in Mumbai suburban trains almost five years ago The injured were shifted to various public and private hospitals including Sassoon Ruby and Jehangir hospitals The investigators have not zeroed in on any group or individuals who could be behind the explosion but the police have detained a cashier of the bakery for questioning and investigations Pune Joint Police Commissioner R Sonawane said Pillai said a team of forensic experts from the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI was being airlifted to Pune to assist the state police in investigations A team from the National Investigation Agency NIA is also expected to reach the city Maharashtra Police the states AntiTerrorism Squad and forensic experts from the state government were at the site to conduct investigations the home secretary said Pillai said that the Maharashtra government had issued an advisory in the wake of the blasts and an advisory had also been issued by the home ministry warning the people not to open any unidentified objects and report all such cases to the police German Bakery is a landmark frequented by the elite and popular with foreigners and has often been compared with the Leopold Cafe in Mumbai one of the targets in the November 2629 2008 terror attacksList of those dead in Pune terror attack 1 P Sundari Thane 2 Anik and Anandi Dar brothersister from Kolkata 3 Vinita Gadani Mumbai 4 Shilpa Goenka origin unknown 5 Shankar Pansare Pune 6 Gokul Nepali origin unknown 7 an unidentifiedunknown man 8 an unidentifiedunknown woman9 Ankit Dhar 23 from Pune10 Anidhi Dhar 19 from Pune11 Binita Gadani 25 from Mumbai Kandivli12 T Sundari 22 from Bangalore13 Shankar Pansare 46 yet to trace address14 Gokul Nepali 30 address not traced15 Two unidentified bodies16 Unknown female 2217 Unknown male 30 presumed to be a foreigner yetu00a0 unconfirmedCops attention divertedThe attention of cops to Koregaon Park where many foreign nationals and Pune locals spend their Saturday evenings might have also been distracted by the protests staged against the release of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer My Name Is KhanBarely a kilometer away from German Bakery was Inox theatre where around 40 policemen were deployed to keep a lookout for Shiv Sena protestors The Pune police also deployed similar sized forces to guard the 22 theatres that were screening the movie over the weekend Pune police officials remained unavailable for comment