Don’t tell me you’re surprised. “India police say Islamists behind attack on Hindu nationalist opposition rally,” by Frank Jack Daniel for Reuters, October 29 (thanks to Benedict):
An Islamist militant group is believed to be behind an attack on a rally by Indian Hindu nationalist politician Narendra Modi that killed six people and wounded more than 80, police said on Tuesday.
Modi, who has a good chance of becoming India’s next prime minister, is seen as a target of militants who hold him responsible for riots a decade ago during his first term as chief minister of Gujarat state. At least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in the rioting.
Seven crude bombs went off on Sunday in Bihar state as Modi’s supporters gathered for his rally. He was not near any of the blasts and delivered his speech despite the attack.
Senior police official S.N. Pradhan said one of two suspects arrested after the blasts had identified a suspected senior member of the Indian Mujahideen militant group, Tehseen Akhtar, as the organiser of the attack.
The National Investigation Agency, India’s top counter terrorism body, is seeking the arrest of the 24-year-old Akhtar in connection with attacks in recent years in the cities of Mumbai and Varanasi and is investigating his role in blasts in Hyderabad city in February.
“Because of the Tehseen connection, the entire chain is established,” said Pradhan, a senior police official in Jharkhand state, where the detained suspect is from.
“There is no doubt that it is the work of the Indian Mujahideen.”
Police said the bombers were trying to spark a stampede in the crowd. Heavy loss of life could have inflamed tension, recently simmering again, between majority Hindus and minority Muslims.