Major terror incidents in India during last 30 years

LAHORE: The Indian Information and Broadcasting Ministry had asked the country’s TV channels not to show live coverage of the operation of the security forces following the terrorist attack at a police station and a bus in Gurdaspur district on Monday, but some channels were found guilty of violating the rules, the “India Today” has reported.
Superintendent of Police Baljit Singh, head of the detective branch of police in Gurdaspur, was among the dead.The fierce gun battle between security forces and the militants clad in Army uniforms had started at 5.30 a.m. on Monday when the terrorists had hijacked a passing car on the outskirts of Dinanagar in Gurdaspur, after shooting its driver.
According to “India Today,” the ongoing Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir and the August 15 celebrations were on the target of terrorists as well.Research conducted by the “Jang Group and Geo Television Network” shows that since 1984, over 1,900 people have lost lives due to terrorism in more than 60 incidents throughout India.
Here follow brief details of major terror incidents that have rocked India since 1984:
-On August 2, 1984, a bomb blast in Tamil Nadu had killed 30 people.
-In July 1987, least 34 Hindu bus passengers were killed In Haryana by suspected Sikh terrorists.
-On June 15, 1991, gangs of gunmen had opened fire on two passenger trains in Ludhiana city, initially killing over 90 people.
-In April 1993, a landmine attack in Karnataka had killed 22 people, making it the deadliest explosive attack in Karnataka during the 20th century.
-The March 12, 1993 Bombay bombings, a series of 13 bomb explosions that took place in Bombay (now Mumbai), had resulted in over 250 fatalities and 700 injuries. The attacks were allegedly coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim, don of the Bombay-based international organized crime syndicate named D-Company.
-The December 30, 1996 Brahmaputra Mail train bombing in Western Assam had killed at least 33 people.
-The February 14, 1998 Coimbatore bombings in the city of Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) had resulted in 58 deaths. A Muslim fundamentalist group “Al Umma,” having a strong presence in Chennai, was blamed for the attack.
-The December 22, 2000 terrorist attack on New Delhi’s Red Fort had killed two soldiers and one civilian. The Lashkar-e-Tayyaba was accused of this incident.
-On October 1, 2001, the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislative Assembly complex in Srinagar was hit by a car bomb and three suicide bombers, leading to 38 deaths. A militant outfit “Jaish-e-Mohammed” was blamed.
-On December 13, 2001, the Indian Parliament building in New Delhi was attacked by five terrorists, leading to deaths of around a dozen cops and parliament staffers. A 45-minute gun battle had commenced, just minutes after both the Houses of Parliament had adjourned for the day. Senior ministers and over 200 members of parliament were inside the Central Hall of Parliament when the attack had taken place.
The Indian government had initially accused Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. However, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba had denied any involvement in the incident.
The May 13, 2002 train crash was the result of an act of sabotage which caused the derailment of a passenger train at Jaunpur city in Uttar Pradesh. A dozen people had perished in this act. The December 6, 2002 Mumbai bus bombing had killed two people and injured over 50.
-The December 21, 2002 derailment and crash of a passenger train in Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh had resulted in 20 deaths.
-The September 10, 2002 rail disaster was the derailment of a train on a bridge in Rafiganj city in North-Central India, killing between 130 and 200 people. A local Maoist terrorist group, the Naxalites, was blamed.
The September 24, 2002 terrorist attack at the Akshardham temple in Gujarat had left 31 dead.
-On January 27, 2003, a bomb placed on a bicycle had exploded near a busy Mumbai railway station, killing a person. The blast occurred when Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister of India at the time, was to visit the city.
-On March 13, 2003, a terrorist bomb attack on a commuter train in Mumbai had left 11 dead.
-The July 28, 2003 Mumbai bus bombing had claimed four lives.
-The August 25, 2003 Mumbai bombings had killed 54 people. The Lashkar-e-Tayyaba was blamed. On August 31, 2003, three suspects - Ashrat Ansari, Haneef Sayyed and his wife Fahmeeda were arrested. All the three were convicted and sentenced to death in August 2009.
-The July 28, 2005 Jaunpur train bombing had destroyed a carriage of an express train near the town of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, killing 13 people.
-The October 29, 2005 Delhi bombings had killed 62 people and had injured at least 210 others. The bombings came only two days before the important festival of Diwali, which is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains. The Lashkar-e-Tayyaba was consequently blamed.
-The March 7, 2006 Varanasi bombings had led to at least 28 deaths.
-The July 11, 2006 Mumbai train bombings had taken place over a period of 11 minutes on the Suburban Railway in Mumbai. The bombs were set off in pressure cookers on trains plying the Western line of the Suburban Railway network. Some 209 people were killed and over 700 were injured.
-The September 8, 2006 Malegaon bombings, which had taken place some 290 km to the northeast of Mumbai, had led to 37 deaths. The attacks were initially blamed on Pakistan but a charge-sheet filed in 2013 had put the blame on India-based Hindu radicals.
-The February 18, 2007 Samjhota Express bombings had claimed 68 lives. Bombs were set off in two carriages, both filled with passengers, just after the train had passed the Diwana station near the city of Panipat, some 80 kilometres north of New Delhi. Of the 68 fatalities, most were Pakistani civilians, but the victims also included some Indian civilians and Indian military personnel guarding the train.
-The May 18, 2007 Hyderabad Makkah Masjid bombing, caused by a cell phone-triggered pipe bomb, had led to 16 deaths.
-The August 25, 2007 Hyderabad bombings had left 42 families mourning. According to initial reports, the banned Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami militant outfit of Bangladesh was suspected for the serial blasts.
-The October 11, 2007 blast at a shrine of a Sufi Muslim saint in the town of Ajmer had killed three people.
-On October 14, 2007, six people were killed in a blast at a Ludhiana movie theater.
-The November 24, 2007 explosions at courthouse complexes in the cities of Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad had killed 16.
-On January 1, 2008, eight people had lost lives in Rampur. The May 13, 2008 Jaipur bombings had led to 63 deaths.
-The July 25, 2008 Bangalore serial blasts had killed two.
-The July 26, 2008 Ahmedabad blast had killed 29 people.
-The September 13, 2008 Delhi blasts had killed 21.
-The September 27, 2008 Delhi blast had killed one and the September 27, 2008 bombings in Maharashtra had killed 10 human beings.
-The October 1, 2008 Agartala bombings had killed four and the October 21, 2008 Imphal bombings had killed 17.
-The October 30, 2008 Assam bombings had killed 77 people.
-The November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks had killed 177 people.
-The January 1, 2009 Guwahati bombings had killed six and the April 6, 2009 Assam bombings had killed another seven.
-The February 13, 2010 Pune bombings had claimed 17 lives and the December 7, 2010 incident had claimed a life.
-The July 13, 2011 Mumbai bombings had killed 26 and the September 7, 2011 Delhi blasts had together killed another dozen people.
-The February 21, 2013 Hyderabad blasts had claimed 16 lives.
-The March 13, 2013 Srinagar incident had led to another seven deaths.
-The April 17, 2013 Bangalore blast had left 16 people injured.
-In October 2013, a series of bomb blasts ahead of Narendra Modi’s election rally in the city of Patna had killed a few people. At that time, Modi was Indian Opposition candidate for Premiership and had served as Chief Minister of Gujarat four times.
-On April 25, 2014, a blast in Jharkhand had claimed eight lives.
-On May 1, 2014, the Chennai train bombing had led to one death.
-On May 12, 2014, Maoist blast in Jharkhand had claimed seven more lives.
On December 28, 2014, a bomb blast at Church Street in Bangalore had led to one death.
(References: The Hindu, the New York Times, CNN, CBC News, the Press Trust of India, The Tribune, Frontline Magazine, China daily, Rediff India, BBC News, the Institute for Conflict Management, The Times of India and the Indian Express etc)