Incident Summary:

07/26/2008: On Saturday evening after 18:40, a bicycle bomb exploded on an Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service bus in Ahmedabad district, Gujarat province, India. This was one of a series of 17 serial bomb blasts that took place within 70 minutes in various crowded places in Ahmedabad and killed a total of 56 civilians and injured 200 others. The bomb, which contained ammonium nitrate, ball bearings, a chemical powder, gelatin, plastic bags, cloth rags and a six volt Chinese-made battery attached to a timer device and stored inside a carton, was planted on an old bicycle. A lesser known group called Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the Ahmedabad bombing attacks with a 14 page email manifesto sent to the media minutes before the first bomb blast. According to the Indian Mujahideen, the bombings were carried out to avenge the 2002 anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat. On 08/14/2008, a suspected activist of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Mohammad Sajid Mansori, was arrested by police in Bharuch while on 08/16/2008, the leader of the SIMI movement, Abul Bashar Qasmi, admitted to his and to several other SIMI members’ involvement in connection with the serial bomb blasts after he was arrested by police in Uttar Pradesh. Six other senior SIMI members, in addition to eight locals, were also arrested, for a total of 16 individuals connected to the bombing attacks. Following the police investigation, authorities speculated that the Indian Mujahideen was just a front name for the SIMI group.

GTD ID:
200807260017

When:
2008-07-26

Country:
India

Region:
South Asia

Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:

Gujarat

City:
Ahmedabad

Location Details:
The bombing attack took place on an Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service bus in Ahmedabad district, Gujarat province, India.

Attack Information
Type of Attack (more) Bombing/Explosion
Successful Attack? (more) Yes
Target Information (more)
Target Type: Transportation
Name of Entity Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service
Specific Description An Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service bus
Nationality of Target India
Additional Information
Hostages No
Ransom No
Property Damage Yes
Extent of Property Damage Unknown
Value of Property Damage Unknown
Weapon Information
Type Sub-type
Explosives Vehicle
Weapon Details
A bomb containing ammonium nitrate, ball bearings, a chemical powder , gelatin, plastic bags, cloth rags and a six volt Chinese-made battery attached to a timer device, stored in a carton and planted on an old bicycle, was used in the bombing attack.
Additional Information
Suicide Attack?No
Part of Multiple Incident?Yes
Criterion 1 (more) Yes
Criterion 2 (more) Yes
Criterion 3 (more) Yes
Doubt Terrorism Proper (more) No
Additional Information This was one of 17 related attacks. The available sources listed the fatalities for these attacks cumulatively as 56 and the injuries for these attacks cumulatively as 200, so these figures have been distributed evenly for these cases in order to preserve statistical accuracy in the database.
Perpetrator Group Information
Group Name Claimed Responsibility
Indian Mujahideen Yes (Confirmed: Unknown; Mode: E-mail)
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators Unknown
Number of Captured Perpetrators 16
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties 3 Fatalities / 12 Injured
Total Number of Fatalities 3
Number of U.S. Fatalities 0
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities 0
Total Number of Injured 12
Number of U.S. Injured 0
Number of Perpetrators Injured 0
Sources
Bedi, Rahul "India blasts: Sixteen bombs in Ahmedabad leave 45 dead and India on high security alert," The Telegraph, July 27, 2008.
Scrutton, Alistair and Majumdar, Bappa, "India on alert after Ahmedabad bombing," Reuters, July 28, 2008.
Special Correspondant, "Accused of Ahmedabad bomb blasts arrested in Belagavi," The Hindu, October 18, 2016.