Eight killed, over 30 injured in Pune terror attack
Updated on Saturday, February 13, 2010, 22:13 IST Tags
une bakery blast, Pune, German Bakery
Zeenews Bureau
Pune: At least eight people were killed and 33 injured when a bomb blast ripped through the German Bakery in the upscale Koregaon Park area of the city Saturday evening.
The blast took place at the German Bakery, an old business establishment, at around 1830 hours.
Confirming the blast as a terror attack, Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said that it's a terror attack and a CBI forensic team has been dispatched to Pune for further investigations.
A team of National Investigative Agency (NIA) officials is also being sent to Pune, Pillai further said.
Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry tonight sent an advisory to all states asking people not to touch unclaimed objects in the wake of the terror attack.
The advisory has also asked people to inform their nearest police station if any suspicious objects were found, a Home Ministry spokesman said.
The blast, initially suspected to have been caused by the bursting of a gas cylinder, engulfed the entire bakery in flames, trapping many of the victims.
"There was a bomb blast. There have been eight deaths and 33 people were injured", said Pune Joint Commissioner of Police Rajendra Sonwane.
"It is a suspected bomb blast. So far, it is not confirmed. We are verifying this", he said adding "we have not arrived at any conclusion at this stage but prima facie it appears that it is a bomb blast".
A team of Anti-Terrorism Squad and bomb disposal squad visited the spot to ascertain the nature of the blast.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said it was yet to be established as to what was the cause of the blast. He said he had talked to the Police Commissioner who told him that unless they examined the evidence on the scene of the blast they cannot come to any conclusion.
Maha had received terror info: Bhujbal
In the wake of a suspected terror attack in Pune, Maharashtra
Deputy Chief Minister Chagan Bhujbal tonight said the state had received "a lot of inputs" from intelligence agencies but none of them was specific.
"We are receiving a lot of inputs from intelligence agencies. But it does not say where it will happen, when it will happen or who will do it. We don't have such details," he said.
He was responding to a question whether the state had received prior reports about possibility of terror strike in the state.
Condemning the terror strike, he said the police was doing its best to secure people.