Officials: India Bombers Had Outside Help

Complexity Of Blasts Which Killed 76 Leads Cops To Suspect Local Militants Got Help

(AP)  The level of sophistication in the bombings that killed at least 76 people in northeastern India indicate that local militants had help from other terrorist groups to carry out the attacks, officials said Friday.

The scale and planning behind Thursday's 13 coordinated blasts in Assam state surprised authorities, who struggled to determine who was behind the attacks - among the worst ever in a region plagued by separatism and ethnic violence.

The death toll in the explosions rose to 76 on Friday after more than a dozen people died from their injuries overnight, said Subhas Das, the state's home commissioner. More than 300 people were wounded.

Assam state Inspector General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said the state's largest separatist group, the United Liberation Front of Asom, was the main target of the investigation, but he added that the sophistication of the blasts suggested the rebel group was "assisted by a force who has adequate expertise in such attacks." He did not elaborate.

Anjan Borehaur, a spokesman for the United Liberation Front of Asom, denied his group had any role in the blasts.

The separatist group has never carried out an attack of this size and complexity, which closely resembled bombings that have rocked other Indian cities this year. Those attacks were blamed on well-financed and well-armed Islamic militant groups.

Federal investigators and forensic experts sifted through the rubble of the blasts Friday for clues.

Mahanta said that preliminary investigations indicated the militants had used PE-3, a complex plastic explosive.

The bombs were planted in cars and rickshaws, and the largest explosion took place near the office of Assam's top government official, leaving bodies and charred, mangled cars and motorcycles strewn across the road.

Bystanders dragged the wounded and dead to cars that took them to hospitals. Police officers covered charred bodies with white sheets in the street.

Later, dozens of people angry over the blasts took to the streets of the state capital, Gauhati, stoning vehicles and torching at least two fire engines. Police imposed a curfew on the city and closed roads leading in and out of the area.

India's northeast - an isolated region wedged between Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Myanmar with only a thin corridor connecting it to the rest of India - is beset by dozens of conflicts. More than 10,000 people have died in separatist violence over the past decade in the region.

In October, more than 50 people were killed in violence between members of the Bodo tribe and recent migrants to the area, most of whom are Muslims.

The region is also home to dozens of separatist groups who accuse the government of exploiting the area's natural resources while doing little for the indigenous people - most of whom are ethnically closer to Burma and China than to the rest of India.

[nincomp]

And the atomic bomb? Oh, you mean the thing we dropped on Japan to end a war that was started by an unprovoked attack by Japan that killed almost 3000 people? That bomb? Your entire argument, like your brains, just went down the drain. So go F yourself and die, you loser.

Posted by michaelt302 at 05:00 PM : Oct 31, 2008
+ report abuse

=

Your knowledge of history doesn''t surprise me considering your postings. Atleast 150,000 civilians (147,000 more than you can count) died as result of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. And killing of civilians in wars is an act of genocide, not an act of defense.

[swingset4u]

Later, dozens of people angry over the blasts took to the streets of the state capital, Gauhati, stoning vehicles and torching at least two fire engines.

Dumb Indians! Torch the tool that will put out the blaze! I am sure the U.S. will be blamed for this one....

[downsteamjim]

Moosenation: The Alaska Independent Party; Are they the ones who bombed the Pentagon, robbed banks, killed innocent people? No that would be Ayers, Dohrn, and other friends of Obama. Please tell us of any violent action that the AIP has done?

[nincomp]

I''''m starting to think that Muslims are all born with an extra gene which makes them really skilled at creating bombs.
Posted by michaelt302 at 04:44 PM : Oct 31, 2008
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That particular gene belongs to US citizens who developed the first atomic bomb and have continued to do so.

[easeup-2009]

!!! ALL THE WORLD, LET''''S DO REVOLUTION !!!

Posted by camposanto at 06:37 AM : Oct 31, 2008

Yeah.....you go ahead & get started, we''ll all be right behind you.

[easeup-2009]

Indians outsourcing their bombing?


Go figure...

[questionnews]

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DON''''''''T PAY YOUR MONEY FOR THEIR CRISE !!! JUST PARTICIPATE TO WORLD SEXYTIME AGAINST ALL CHIEFS !!!
THEY PUT YOU TO WORK AND AFTER YOU WORKED DECADES, THEY TOOK ALL YOUR MONEY !!!
DO NOT WORK AGAIN FOR THEM, JUST DO SEXYTIME AT COMPLETE WORLD''''''''S SCALE !!! ALL THE WORLD, LET''''''''S DO SEXYTIME !!!

Posted by Borat at 06:40 AM : Oct 31, 2008

[toolmangler-2009]

RELIGION POISONS EVERYTHING.
Posted by jMcGilvray at 10:26 AM : Oct 31, 2008


People poison religion!!!!!
Religion is a guideline, personal greed bends religion in its direction.

[hypnotoad72]

"India Bombers Had Outside Help"

I say "CIA".

(You say "al-Qaeda". I say "potato", you say "potaato". I say "tomato", you say "tomaato".)

Posted by anon00 at 11:35 AM : Oct 31, 2008
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Proof? Or is your brain MIA? Or DOA, perhaps?

[gop_will_win]

Ofcourse they did, it was God. He is angry about their polytheist lifestyle.