2008 Ahmedabad bombings

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.

Quotes

• But sadly, there was no respite for the country. The city of Ahmedabad was jounced the very next day with an extraordinary attack. On 26 July 2008, the news of the first blast in the city broke at about 7 p.m. The number had risen to an astounding 21 in less than an hour. Fifty-six innocent persons were never to open their eyes again, but the senses of India’s security agencies were finally beginning to awaken. An e-mail was released under the name of the IM claiming responsibility for this destruction. It also carried the usual threat about annihilating India and avenging the Gujarat anti-Muslim riots. More curiously, the mail was sent to TV channels about five minutes before the first explosion. ‘Just wait for five minutes for the revenge of Gujarat riots,’ it read.
  • Tiwari, D. P., (2019). The great indian conspiracy. London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.

• A 14-page email sent by the Indian Mujahidin with the subject line, “Await 5 minutes for the revenge of Gujarat,” read: “In the name of Allah the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death!” By invoking Allah, they made it clear that they were drawing the inspiration to carry out this large-scale violence from Islam. The email added: “We wonder at your memory. Have you forgotten the evening of 11 July 2006 so quickly and so easily?,” taking a dig at the failure of Indian security agencies regarding the July 2006 local train blasts in Mumbai.
  • as quoted in India: 49 Muslims convicted for 21 jihad bombings in Ahmedabad in 2008

• “The Constitution does not count for me. For me, the decisions of the Koran are supreme,” Bhopal Central Jail Superintendent Dinesh Nargawe quoted Nagori as saying soon after he was sentenced to death.
  • Safdar Nagori, one of the 38 convicts sentenced to death in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts case , as quoted in [1]