GAYA (BIHAR), July 7: Terror struck one of the holiest Buddhist shrines, the Mahabodhi Temple, and other places in Bihar’s pilgrimage town of Bodh Gaya early today, with suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives simultaneously triggering nine low intensity bombs leaving two monks injured.
The temple’s sanctum sanctorum and the Bodhi Tree, under which Lord Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment, did not suffer any damage in the blasts which shook the holy town frequented by lakhs Buddhist pilgrims from Sri Lanka, China, Japan and the whole of southeast Asia each year.
Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami told reporters in New Delhi that serial explosions inside and outside Mahabodhi Temple complex were a terror attack and NIA and NSG teams have been sent for post-blasts investigations.
A five-member NIA team comprising a DIG and two SPs reached here by a special plane from New Delhi and began their probe at the temple complex, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Gaya Range, Nayyar Hasnain Khan, said.
Security has been beefed at the temple and adjoining areas, Bihar police chief DGP Abhayanand told reporters, adding CCTV footage was being examined for leads to the terrorists.
The explosions, the first of its type to target the town and the temple, a UNESCO heritage site, took place between 5:30 and 5:58 am. The explosives were set off by timers.
Last year, the Delhi Police claimed to have foiled a ‘fidayeen’ attack in the town with the arrest of suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) elements to avenge “atrocities” against Muslims in Myanmar. Security agencies suspect that IM may be behind today’s multiple blasts.
However, no group has claimed responsibility for what the Centre and State Government have described as a terror attack in a region where Maoists have a strong foothold.
“While four blasts took place inside the Mahabodhi Temple complex, three occurred in Karmapa monastery, one each near near the famous 80-ft Buddha statue and at the bus stand near bypass,” Khan said.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said two live bombs were defused in the town. A third bomb, hidden in a cylinder, was recovered from a village near Bodh Gaya hours after the blasts and defused.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who rushed to the blast site from Patna, about 100 kms from here, demanded deployment of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for security of the shrine.
President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh strongly condemned the blasts, saying such attacks on religious places will “never be tolerated”.
Hours after the multiple blasts, the Centre directed all states to ensure fool-proof security at Buddhist shrines and Tibetan settlements in the wake of the continuing violence between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar.
In an advisory to all states with special emphasis on cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune, the Home Ministry said adequate security must be provided to Buddhist shrines, Buddhist places of worships and Tibetian settlements.
Mahabodhi Temple, the target of serial blasts, has been closed for general public but the prayers will continue to be held as usual, Abhayanand said.
The DGP said no harm has come to the sanctum sanctorum of the famous Buddhist temple.
The two injured monks, one from Tibet and the other a national of Myanmar, were admitted to Magadh Medical College and Hospital, Arvind Singh, a member of Mahabodhi Temple Management Committee said.
Singh said two bombs, one near the 80 feet statue and another at a bus stand have been defused.
Asked about the nature of explosives used, S K Bharadwaj, ADG (Law and Order) said they were low intensity time bombs.
“We got information about six-seven months back that there may be a terror attack on the Mahabodhi Temple. After that we had beefed up security and deployed extra forces”, police said.
At the temple, security arrangements by police are only outside the temple while the security inside is looked after by temple trust officials, a senior police official said.
An official of the Bodh Gaya committee said, “There were four blasts inside the temple premises. Fortunately, there was no damage to the Bodhi Tree or the main temple structure.”
“In the first blast which took place near the Bodhi tree, a table was blown up because of which two persons were injured. The second blast was inside an enclosure where books were kept. The furniture was damaged but there was no damage to the monuments or statues,” he said.
A senior Delhi Police official said Bihar police and intelligence agencies had been alerted about Bodh Gaya temple being on the radar of terror outfits.
“The input was given on the basis of information we had obtained from a group of Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorist arrested in 2012 in the Pune blasts case,” he said.
Attacking the Centre and the Bihar Government, BJP and other opposition parties accused both of having failed to take steps to avert the terror strike despite getting timely warnings.
“It is a serious issue that central agencies had warned about this attack and given specific inputs that Bodh Gaya would be attacked and still no proper arrangements were made (by the State Government). The Central Government must also take responsibility to avoid such attacks,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said here.
Congress General Secretary and communication department in-charge Ajay Maken said, “We condemn this horrific incident in Bodh Gaya. I urge the State Government and other agencies to bring the guilty to justice as soon as possible. We also wish speedy recovery to all the injured.”
Bihar BJP leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said no measures were taken to prevent the attack despite intelligence tip off and said the Centre and the State Governments cannot escape the responsibility for the blasts.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad put the entire blame on the JD(U) Government in the State.
“If intelligence inputs were given about possible attacks, the Bihar Government has to take the full responsibility,” he said.
Hours after the serial blasts rocked the Maha Bodhi temple and surrounding areas in Bodh Gaya, its management committee today decided to hand over the temple’s security to the State police, an office bearer said.
An emergency meeting of the nine-member Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC) chaired by the district Magistrate was held this afternoon where it was decided to hand over the security of the Maha Bodhi temple to the State police, BTMC member Arvind Singh said.
Earlier, BTMC and State police were jointly managing the security of the Maha Bodhi temple with the management committee responsible for internal security, while the State police managed external security, he said.
At the meeting, BTMC members unanimously decided to hand over the security of the temple to the State police in totality, Singh said.
The 52 monasteries under the BMTC also agreed to extend all cooperation to the State police in manning security in the temple town, the BTMC member said.
Meanwhile, terming the series of blasts at Mahabodhi temple complex in Bihar as “unfortunate”, Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama said in Dharamsala that “few individuals” could be behind the attack.
“The incident is really unfortunate,” he said, adding that few individuals could be responsible for the attack.
The Tibetan Government-in-exile said it was deeply saddened over the blasts.
“I am deeply saddened to learn about the series of bomb blasts at Mahabodhi temple. My prayers for the injured and their family members”, Prime Minister of the Government-in-exile Lobsang Sangay said in a statement here. (PTI)
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