The 2008 Ahmedabad bombings were a series of 21 bomb blasts that hit Ahmedabad, India, on 26 July 2008, within a span of 70 minutes. Fifty-six people were killed and over 200 people were injured. Ahmedabad is the cultural and commercial heart of Gujarat state and a large part of western India. The blasts were considered to be of low intensity and were similar to the Bangalore blasts, Karnataka which occurred the day before. This bombings were done by Pakistani Islamic Terrorist group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami.
Several TV channels had received an e-mail from a terror outfit called Indian Mujahideen claiming responsibility for the terror attacks; Islamic militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, however, has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Gujarat police arrested the suspected mastermind, Mufti Abu Bashir, along with nine others, in connection to the bombings.
In a verdict given by Ahmedabad special court in February 2022, of the 77 accused, 28 were acquitted for lack of evidence, 11 were sentenced to life imprisonment and 38 were sentenced to death.
The 2008 Ahmedabad bombings were a series of 21 bomb blasts that hit Ahmedabad, India, on 26 July 2008, within a span of 70 minutes. Fifty-six people were killed and over 200 people were injured. Ahmedabad is the cultural and commercial heart of Gujarat state and a large part of western India. The blasts were considered to be of low intensity and were similar to the Bangalore blasts, Karnataka which occurred the day before. This bombings were done by Pakistani Islamic Terrorist group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami.
Several TV channels had received an e-mail from a terror outfit called Indian Mujahideen claiming responsibility for the terror attacks; Islamic militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, however, has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Gujarat police arrested the suspected mastermind, Mufti Abu Bashir, along with nine others, in connection to the bombings.
In a verdict given by Ahmedabad special court in February 2022, of the 77 accused, 28 were acquitted for lack of evidence, 11 were sentenced to life imprisonment and 38 were sentenced to death.
Bombings
The bombs were planted in Tiffin carriers on bicycles, a pattern similar to the 13 May 2008 Jaipur bombings. Many of the blasts targeted the city bus service of AMTS (Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service), ripping apart portions of the vehicles. Two blasts took place inside the premises of two hospitals, about 40 minutes after the initial series of blasts. One of the blasts in the hospitals occurred when injured victims of the initial series of blasts were being admitted there. Another bomb was found and defused on the following day in the Hatkeshwar area. Two live bombs were also retrieved from Maninagar, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's constituency.
Gujarat police recovered and defused two more bombs in Surat, another major city in Gujarat, a day after the Ahmedabad blasts. Two cars filled with materials required to make explosives, including detonators, were also found, one of them parked on a roadside near a hospital, and the other in the outskirts of Surat.
Bombing Locations
Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, trauma center
Khadia
Raipur
Sarangpur
L.G. Hospital, Maninagar
Maninagar
Hatkeshwar Circle
Bapunagar
Thakkarbapa Nagar
Jawahar Chowk
Govindwadi
Isanpur
Narol
Sarkhej
Warning of attacks through e-mail
Several news agencies reported receiving a 14-page e-mail five minutes before the explosions with the subject line: "Await 5 minutes for the revenge of Gujarat", apparently referring to the 2002 Gujarat violence which took place after the Godhra train burning incident. The e-mail was sent by the Islamic extremist group known as Indian Mujahideen on 26 July at around 6:41pm IST.
The contents of the e-mail warned of attacks in 5 minutes: "In the name of Allah the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death!"
The e-mail also contained threats against Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh, and his deputy, R.R. Patil, with the claim, "We wonder at your memory. Have you forgotten the evening of 11 July 2006 so quickly and so easily?"
Furthermore, the threats went on to warn Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries to "think-twice" before "usurping and building a citadel on a land in Mumbai that belongs to the Waqf board...lest it turns into horrifying memories for you which you will never ever forget".
The e-mail also reportedly threatened several Bollywood actors, asking them to stop acting.
Police reported that they questioned U.S. national Ken Haywood from whose IP address the threatening email was sent. Haywood's residence in the Sanpada area of Navi Mumbai was raided by ATS officials on 27 July after the IP address from which a threatening email was sent minutes before the Ahmedabad serial blasts was found to be his.
Casualties
56 people were killed by the bombing and over 200 people were injured.
Initially, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sanctioned an ex gratia payment of ₹ 100,000 (US$2,300) to the next of kin of the dead. However, upon visiting Ahmedabad, he raised the ex gratia figure to ₹ 350,000 (US$8,050).In addition, he also announced a compensation of ₹ 50,000 (US$1,200) for those injured in the blasts.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi announced a compensation of Rs 500,000 (US$11,500) to each victim of the bomb blasts.
Investigations
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami has claimed the responsibility of the blasts. The email mentioned that "the innocent Muslims arrested in the (Mumbai), bomb blast case are being tried for years and years."
Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta said the Centre dispatched one team of bomb experts and decided to convene a meeting of top officials of state governments to discuss the situation arising out of the recent explosions.
According to the Times of India the intelligence community believes that both blasts of Bangalore and Ahmedabad were executed by a network of Wahabi fundamentalists masquerading as Indian Mujahideen.
Leads in the case
Several TV channels stated that they had received an e-mail from a terror outfit called Indian Mujahideen claiming responsibility for the terror attacks. This e-mail has been traced to a locality in Navi Mumbai. This outfit in the past claimed responsibility for the Jaipur bombings on 13 May 2008.
The police investigation has centered around the claims made in two phone calls.
A doctor who was visiting one of the hospitals where one of the blasts occurred has claimed to have overheard a person talking on his cellphone saying, "Bangalore was a failure, however Ahmedabad will be successful and we will celebrate if God wishes.". A sketch of this person, shown alongside, was released. The doctor described the suspected culprit as being around "30–34 years old; wearing a pink shirt; clean shaven; and seemingly an educated person."
A person has claimed to have received two suspicious phone calls at around 8:00pm IST. In one of the phone calls, it is reported that the caller said, "Ejaz, kaam ho gaya hai?", which translates to "Ejaz, has the job been done?"
Two cars, both stolen Maruti Wagon R models with vehicle license plates reading "GJ-6-CD 3569" and "GJ-5-CD 2908" were also found in Surat. One of the cars had four live bombs which were defused. In addition, a wooden box with white powder, wires, a battery and shrapnel was also found near Nupur hospital. The cars used for bombings in Ahmedabad and those that were defused in Surat were eventually traced to Navi Mumbai, from where they had been stolen on 7 and 15 July 2008. Investigations revealed that they were subsequently laden with explosives in Vadodara, before being brought to Ahmedabad and Surat.
On 30 July 2008, it was reported that the police had found CCTV footage of the driver of one of the cars used for the bombings. The photo was obtained from a toll booth near Pune. It had been earlier established that the bombers had stolen the cars from Navi Mumbai before driving it to Gujarat. The car used in the blast at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital was driven 6 times between Ahmedabad and Surat between 7 and 24 July.
On 4 August 2008, the Gujarat police claimed to have their first breakthrough in the case with the identification of the shop from where the LPG cylinders used for the blasts were bought. The police also claimed that the crates in which the bombs were planted were made from locally purchased wood.
Suspects
The Hindustan Times reported on 28 July 2008 that police and intelligence officials had zeroed in on three masterminds behind the blasts. The suspects, Rasool Khan Yakoob Khan Pathan alias Rasool 'Party', Sohail Khan and Mufti Sufiyan, are suspected to be key operatives of either the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) or the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI). They are also believed to have got to Pakistan after the 2002 Gujarat riots.
On 29 July 2008, the police detained three suspects, Abdul Qadir, Hasil Mohammad and Hussain Ibrahim, near Limdi on Rajkot-Ahmedabad highway in Surendranagar district, while they were leaving Ahmedabad soon after the blasts
On 30 July 2008, it was reported on Rediff that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) believed two men, Rasool Khan Parti and Mohammad Sufiya Ahmed Patangiya, who are currently living at Farahan Arcade Gulistan in Karachi were the masterminds behind both the Ahmedabad and the 2008 Bangalore serial blasts. They were previously residents of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, and are members of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami. The Gujarat Police has been looking for them in connection to the murder of former Gujarat state minister Haren Pandya.
On 16 August 2008, the Gujarat Police announced that they had solved the case, making it the fastest terrorism case to be solved in recent years. According to the Gujarat Director General of Police P.C.Pande, Mufti Abu Bashir was the mastermind behind the blasts, and up to 10 of his accomplices had been arrested.
On 20 November 2008, the Gujarat Police claimed that Amir Raza Khan, a HuJI operative from Kolkata now in Pakistan, was also the mastermind of the blasts. In a chargesheet filed by the Crime Branch, SIMI members Safdar Nagori, Hafez Hussain, Sibli Abdul Karim, Kamruddin Nagori, Amil Parvez and Mufti Abu Basher planned the attack and asked Abdus Subhan alias Tauqeer and Qayamuddin Kapadia for executing the blasts. SIMI members organised terror training camps in Waghamon in Kerala and Halol near Vadodara. Qayamuddin and Tauqeer then held a meeting with their local contacts in the city for arrangements of logistics and support to carry out the conspiracy. The local contacts were those who were associated with SIMI before it was banned in 2001 by the Central Government.
Arrests
Maulana Abdul Halim, a suspected Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activist, was arrested from Dani Limda in the heart of Ahmedabad on 27 July 2008. He was alleged to be involved in instigating the Muslim youth after the 2002 Gujarat violence and sending them to Uttar Pradesh for terror training. Charges have also been laid on him for sending 33 youths for terror training to Pakistan in 2003. After his arrest, he was remanded to a 14-day police custody by the Metropolitan Magistrate in Ahmedabad.
On 15 August, the Gujarat police arrested Mufti Abu Bashir, and nine others, in connection to the bombings. Bashir belongs to Binapara village in Azamgarh district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, and was believed to be a SIMI activist.
On 24 October, a SIMI activist, Abdul Razik Mansuri, a resident of Gomtipur area Nagda district, Madhya Pradesh, had been arrested along with Harun Rashid, a Gujrat residence and send to Gujarat for questioning. The Joint Commissioner of Police for the crime branch, Ashish Bhatia, said: "He was arrested from the Nagda district in Madhya Pradesh by our team. He was there staying with some of his relative. We have brought him to Ahmedabad for interrogation." He added that Mansuri was likely to be produced before a court in Ahmedabad to be remanded to judicial custody.
On 11 November, the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) arrested Qayamuddin Kapadia, a top-ranking member of SIMI and a key conspirator and executor of the attack, In Ujjain. Police claimed that Kapadia admitted his involvement in the Ahmedabad blasts, and that he, along with Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Tauqeer of Mumbai and Riaz Bhatkal of Karnataka, collaborated with the SIMI cell led by Atif to carry out the Delhi blasts. Atif was later killed in an encounter with special cell of Delhi Police.
On 13 November, Rafiuddin Kapadia, the brother of the key accused, Qayamuddin Kapadia, was arrested by the city police of Ahmedabad. His arrest took the toll of the total held by the police to 43. The Joint Commissioner of Police, Ashish Bhatia, who is heading the probe in the serial blasts case, said: "We have arrested Rafiuddin Kapadia, brother of Qayamuddin. He was present at the SIMI training camp in Halol near Vadodara. He originally hails from Vadodara and was arrested today from Ahmedabad by the crime branch officials."
On 26 March 2012, Maharashtra ATS arrested one blast suspect Mohammed Abrar Babu Khan alias Abrar Shaikh in an encounter in Sambhajinagar. Khaleel Qureshi was killed and Mohammed Shakeer was wounded in the encounter. All are alleged to be members of terrorist group Indian Mujahideen. A police constable was also injured during the firing.
On 19 June 2016, Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad, arrested Nasir Rangrez from Belgaum.