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After 48 hours of serial bomb blast in Ahmedabad, police late on Sunday made an arrest of an activist of the banned outfit, SIMI. Identified as Abdul Halim, the militant was arrested in Dani Limda, Ahmedabad after police traced a phone call and focused on eyewitness accounts. He has been interrogated in connection with the incident.

A live bomb in the city was being defused on Sunday and another three found in Surat city also.

The arrested man is wanted in connection with 2002 post-Godhra riots also. Regarding his arrested in connection with the 17 low intensity blasts happened in Ahmedabad on Saturday evening that claimed 49 lives, Ahmedabad Joint Commissioner of Police Ashish Bhatia told “His arrest could well be the first one in the series of more arrest likely to happen in connection with the serial blast. Of the 30 people who have been rounded up, the police is now concentrating on a couple of cycle shop owners and cycle distributors.”

“There were reports that he was hiding in Delhi and we had intimidated Delhi Police as well. After receiving some specific inputs about his whereabouts, the crime branch arrested him during a combing operation,” he added.

A high alert has been declared at several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi visited Ahmedabad on Monday. They are likely to meet the injured people in hospitals undergoing treatment.

On Saturday evening, 16 coordinated serial blasts rocked the city killing 49 people and injuring more than 150, a day after eight explosions rippled the IT city, Bangalore which killed one woman and injured many.

Tags: Ahmedabad, ahmedabad serial blast, bomb blast, SIMI, SIMI activist, Terror

After Bangalore serial blast, eight low-intensity bomb blasts rocked Ahmedabad city on Saturday evening. The blasts happened in Maninagar, Bapunagar, Hatkeshwar, Sarnagpur Bridge, Amraiwadi, Govindwadi, Sarangpur, Chakla area and Jawahar Chowk. All the blast took place within half an hour starting from 6:30 pm.

The first two blast happened at Maninagar. The first one took place in the Assembly constituency of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi followed by a second blast inside the LJ Hospital premises. It was reported that the bomb in Maninagar was planted in a bicycle in the assembly constituency while the blast inside the hospital took place below a red-coloured car. 20 people have been taken injured to the civil hospital in Maninagar. A black coloured Hero Honda Splendor motorcycle has been found abandoned near the blast site in Maninagar.

Two other blast took place in Bapunagar at about 6:40 pm, one outside the railway station while other inside a bus. The bombs were reportedly hidden in tiffin boxes. Ahmedabad railway station has been sealed. One more blast happened in Diamond market.

Bapu Nagar and Diamond Market are in the Old City area which is very congested particularly on Saturday evening. According to CNN-IBN’s reports, the blasts were aimed at creating panic and not really at causing heavy causalities.

A seventh explosion took place in Sakrej. An initial report says that the bomb was targetted in CNG bus. In another market near Sabarmati River, eyewitness accounts suggest that two men were seen throwing a bag near the shops. Soon after this, there was an explosion.

Immediately, police have rushed to the sites. All the injured are being rushed to nearby hospitals. All mobile networks have been jammed. An emergency meeting is going on at Modi’s residence and the Chief Minister is likely to visit the blast areas soon.

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

Union Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal said, “The blasts seem to be along the lines of yesterdays Bangalore blasts. It is a conspiracy to unsettle the country. All metros are on a high alert.”

Delhi, Mumbai, and other metros are on the high alert. It was feared that the ancient Meenakshi Temple may be on target. Hence Tamil Nadu has also been put on high alert. However, as a precautionary measure, security has been beefed up at all major temples.

According to the reports of IBN CNN, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had received an e-mail from a little known terror group called Indian Mujaheedin about a possible attack. Other details are yet to come.

Tags: Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad bomb blast, bomb blast, Serial blast, Terror Attack