BANGALORE RECOVERING FROM TERROR ATTACKS AS INVESTIGATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENNAI 000254 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR S/ES-O, CA/OCS, SCA/INS, DS/IP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL ASEC CACS IN SUBJECT: BANGALORE RECOVERING FROM TERROR ATTACKS AS INVESTIGATION CONTINUES REF: CHENNAI 251 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: A sense of normalcy is returning to Bangalore following the series of eight explosions on July 25 that killed one person and injured eight. A ninth device that failed to explode is providing city police insights on the bombs' construction. No Americans were killed or injured in the attacks, and U.S. businesses in Bangalore are mostly operating normally, although some chose to limit operations. The state's new BJP government will have its hands full dealing with this incident. End Summary. Crude bombs kill one, injure eight -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Bangalore's police commissioner, Shankar Bidari, told us that "low-intensity" explosives packed with nuts and bolts caused the July 25 blasts. He said that they had been placed at various locations more or less en route from Bangalore's central business district to Electronic City, an information technology park 15 km southeast of the city center that houses many of India's brand-name infotech majors like Infosys and WIPRO. The one fatality occurred at a bus stop, where shrapnel killed a female garment worker. Bidari said that three of the surviving victims suffered "critical" injuries, two others were admitted to hospital with less severe injuries, and the remaining three were treated and released as outpatients. Unexploded bomb provides vital clues -------------- ¶3. (U) The police also discovered a ninth bomb that failed to explode on the sidewalk of a road leading to Electronic City. According to a press report, the purveyor of a tea stall found a "flower pot" (quotes in original story) beside a Hosur Road bus stop on the evening of July 23. He hoped to use the object as a stool, but became suspicious after the July 25 blasts and alerted police on the morning of July 26, who found "two wires protruding out of a cement flowerpot-like object." ¶4. (SBU) Bidari told us that the unexploded device has provided vital clues. He said that the explosive contained low-grade ammonium nitrate mixed with oil to form slurry packed into a concrete bucket with a timer microchip connected to a power source to act as a trigger. He also said that he expects the recovered chip to provide clues to its origin. Describing the device as "crude," he surmised that the bomb's locally available material required little knowledge or training to assemble. Possible bomb-testing one day earlier -------------- ¶5. (SBU) A small explosion occurred in the tourist town of Chennapatna (40 km southwest of Bangalore) on July 24 that caused little damage and no injuries. Local police did not report the explosion at the time, but Bangalore police now believe that the explosion may have been a "trial run" of the July 25 attacks. Bidari told us that police have arrested three local suspects (NFI), one of whom possessed eight kilograms of ammonium nitrate. Bidari expressed optimism that interrogation of the three would produce in the next several days some helpful leads in the investigation. Mostly business as usual for U.S. companies -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The attacks did not appear to target foreigners or foreign business interests, and no Americans were killed or injured. U.S. businesses operating in Bangalore remain largely unaffected. An IBM executive told us that the company closed early on July 25 to allow employees more time to fight the city's notorious traffic on their commutes home. He said that the company returned to normal operating hours on July 26, and that all employees showed up for the early morning shift at its Global Operations Center. An Intel India executive told us that his company was "largely unaffected." An executive from an Indian IT company told us that his company was stepping up security, to include frisking visitors and scanning their bags. A tough test for the BJP CHENNAI 00000254 002 OF 002 -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Katta Subramanian Naidu, a regular BJP contact in Karnataka and a minister in the state government, told us that his government is currently "in a dilemma" about how to respond. He told us that appearing weak would alienate the party's base, especially since the BJP had accused the Congress Party of being soft on terror. He recognized, however, that an overly harsh response may alienate Muslims, who make up 10 percent of the state's population, suggesting that they were largely responsible for many of the state's law-and-order problems. Comment -------------- ¶8. (SBU) While police officials are reluctant to accuse specific groups of causing the attacks, they seem to have little doubt that they are the work of extremists acting in the name of Islam (the e-mail claiming responsibility for the Ahmadabad blasts on July 26 support this interpretation). Karnataka's new BJP government will have its hands full investigating these attacks. The city's last major terror attack, on the Indian Institute of Technology's Bangalore Campus in 2005, remains unsolved, and the government continues to pursue cases against a spate of suspected extremists arrested over the past several months. KAPLAN