By Neha Singh
BANGALORE, India (Reuters) - Eight small bombs exploded inquick succession across the south Indian city of Bangalore onFriday, killing a woman and wounding at least 15 people, policesaid.
"In all these cases they have created the blast using timerdevices," Bangalore Commissioner of Police Shankar Bidari toldreporters at the site of one of the blasts. "Explosives havealso been used, in quantity equal to one or two grenades."
Bangalore, known as India's Silicon Valley, is one of theworld's most prominent centres for software development and isalso the capital of its outsourcing industry.
Also nicknamed the "world's back office", it is home tomore than 1,500 top firms, including India's InfosysTechnologies and Wipro and offices of global firms such asMicrosoft Corp and Intel Corp.
India's home ministry said it suspected "a small militantgroup" was behind the attacks, but gave no details.
Several IT firms, as well as schools, colleges and cinemas,closed after news of the blasts broke. Phone lines were jammed.
"I was on my way to office when we heard a noise," witnessArun Daniel told the CNN-IBN TV channel. "It sounded like acracker. The traffic was blocked, everyone was running around.It was not a severe blast."
Local TV showed a stall with broken windows and itsconcrete floor broken in pieces. Rubble littered another site.Sniffer dogs were used to trace clues.
One of the blasts occurred behind a bus stand, killing awoman, police said.
Bomb experts said gelatine sticks and a concoction ofammonium nitrate in fuel oil had been used to cause some of theexplosions. Nuts, bolts and nails were also packed in thebombs.
"There were eight explosions of low intensity," GopalHosur, joint police commissioner for Bangalore, told Reuters."At least one person was killed," he said. Police said one moreperson could have died.
India has suffered a wave of bombings in recent years, withtargets ranging from mosques and Hindu temples to trains. It isunusual for any group to claim responsibility for attacks.
Islamist militant groups in Pakistan and Bangladesh intenton fanning hatred between Muslims and Hindus in India, anddamaging a fragile peace process between New Delhi andIslamabad, are often blamed.
In May, eight bombs, many strapped to bicycles, rippedthrough a crowded shopping area in the western city of Jaipur,killing at least 63 people and injuring hundreds more.
Police said that attack bore some hallmarks of theBangladeshi militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami (HuJI).
Bangalore also hosts vibrant biotechnology and aerospaceindustries as well as a garment sector employing more than300,000 people.
Indian shares initially extended losses on Friday afterreports of the blasts in Bangalore, but later recoveredslightly.
The 30-share BSE index ended down around 3.4 percent,driven by rising oil prices and falls in regional markets amidconcerns about the U.S. economy.
(Writing by Simon Denyer; Additional reporting by Bangalorenewsroom and Krittivas Mukherjee in New Delhi; Editing by BappaMajumdar)
