Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Saturday night described the blast in Pune as a “significant terrorist incident” since the Mumbai attacks 14 months ago and said all information pointed to a plot to trigger the explosion in a place frequented by foreigners and Indians.
He, however, said government would wait for the forensic report before drawing a conclusion.
“This is a sad event. Significant terrorist incident after 14 months”, Mr. Chidambaram told mediapersons on the eve of his visit to Pune where the blast tore through the landmark German bakery in Koregaon locality killing 9 people and wounding more than 40.
The Home Minister said he was “deeply distressed” by the Pune blast and “all the information available to us at the moment point to a plot to explode a device in a place that is frequented by foreigners as well as Indians”. (more)
Mr. Chidambaram said the device was exploded in the eatery part of the German Bakery which was a short distance away from the Osho Ashram and from the Chabad House, Jewish prayer house.
He said the Centre had sensitized the Maharashtra government and the police that the Chabad House was a target of terrorists and Saturday’s incident happened just a few metres away from the Chabad House.
Mr. Chidambaram said forensic experts have already reached the blast site in Pune.
The Home Minister asked the media not to speculate and give “some time” to the government “to gather forensic evidence and draw some conclusions and go by the official statement that are put out”.
“I promise you there will be an official statement once every four or six hours. So, please don’t speculate on this and that”.
