Serial blasts in Ahmedabad

Terror struck Gujarat when 17 serial blasts ripped across the city on Saturday evening leaving 15 killed and 30 injured sending a wave of panic. )

The synchronised explosions in the space of 90 minutes in the eastern and western areas after the first blast hit Maninagar at 6.45 pm occurred in 13 places. There were two blasts each in Maninagar--the constituency of Chief Minister Narendra Modi--and in Sarkej targeting a state transport CNG bus and Sangam theatre.

Significantly two hospitals were also the target of attack. An NSG team has been rushed to Ahmedabad.

The low-intensity explosions occurred at eight areas of Maninagar, Isanpur, Narol circle, Bapunagar, Hatkeshwar and Sarangpur bridge, Sarkej and Odhav and created a wave of panic.

There were two blasts in Maninagar and the first blast occurred in this area at 6.45 PM. The second blast here occurred near LG hospital. Maninagar is the constituency of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The Ahmedabad blasts came a day after the multiple explosions in Bangalore in which two persons were killed. The mobile network in the area has completely collapsed.

Police said at least two had died and 25 injured, some of them seriously, in the blasts. The injured have been rushed to civil hospital and LG hospital.

Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said in New Delhi there were eight blasts. Unconfirmed reports said there were 13 blasts.

The explosion in the sensitive Sarkej area occurred in a CNG bus.

Some of the bombs were believed to have been placed in cycles eerily similar to the Jaipur blasts on May 13 in which 65 persons died. A couple of bombs were reported to have been placed in tiffin boxes in a modus operandi similar to the explosions outside a Lucknow court last year.

President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts and appealed for calm.