Live bomb found near Bangalore mall, defused by squad

Less than 24 hours after a series of explosions rattled Bangalore, an unexploded bomb was found planted near a prominent shopping mall in upmarket Koramangala area of the City on Saturday.

Soon after locals alerted the police, the bomb disposal squad rushed to the spot and managed to defuse the live bomb.

Commissioner of Bangalore City Police Shankar Bidri told reporters that locals had seen a youth wearing a red shirt placing the bomb on the pavement near Forum Shopping Mall in Koramangala around 10.30 am. “He kept the bucket-shaped bomb on the pavement, covered it with a tarpaulin and ran away”, Bidri said.

Soon after receiving information about the suspicious-looking bucket-shaped object near the shopping mall, the bomb disposal squad reached the spot even as the police cordoned off the area and blocked the roads leading to the shopping mall.

Minutes later, the bomb disposal squad managed to successfully defuse the bomb. The unexploded bomb contained a micro-chip, detonators and explosives with oil.

The police, which has launched an elaborate search to trace the culprits, will soon come out with the sketch of the youth, who appeared to be aged around 20-22 years, based on the description provided by eyewitnesses.

Bidri said the unexploded bomb recovered and defused yesterday was similar to the series of bombs that went off on Friday. The unexploded bomb was taken away by the security agencies and is expected to part of the investigation carried out by forensic experts into the serial blasts.

Meanwhile, forensic experts from the National Security Guards (NSG) arrived in Bangalore yesterday and visited the sites of Friday’s serial blasts. The team went around collecting evidence from all the sites to examine the nature of explosives used in the blasts.

However, Bidri told reporters that Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) had been used in the serial blasts, but with “low-intensity”. Preliminary investigation by police teams has revealed that ammonium nitrate, bolts and nuts and small cement chips had been packed into the devices.

The BJP Government in Karnataka has already constituted a special investigation team to uncover the plot.
Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said he was expecting important leads into the blasts to emerge by Saturday evening. However, he refused to divulge much information on the pretext that the legislature session was underway. “It would be inappropriate on my part to make comments directly to the media before discussing the matter in the legislature session when it is going on”, he said.

Home Minister V S Acharya said the police was investigating into all possible angles to uncover the blasts. “We are investigating all possible angles and who could be involved in the blasts. We do not want to comment so early”, he said.