GAYA (Bihar): Nine serial explosions today rocked the internationally renowned temple town of Bodhgaya, including four in the Mahabodhi Temple complex, injuring two monks in the blasts suspected to be engineered by some terrorist organisation.

The Mahabodhi Temple is frequented by Buddhist pilgrims from Sri Lanka, China and Japan and the whole of southeast Asia.

While four blasts took place this morning inside the Mahabodhi Temple complex, three occurred in Karmapa monastery, one each near near the 80-foot Buddha statue and at the bus stand near bypass, DIG Magadh range Nayyer Hussnain Khan told PTI.

The blasts took place between 5:30 to 5:58 am, he said. Arvind Singh, a member of Mahabodhi Temple Management Commitee said the two injured included a national of Myanmar and another of Tibet. They have been admitted to Magadh Medical College and Hospital, he said.

Singh said two other bombs, one near the 80 feet statue and one at bus stand have been defused. Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) S K Bhardwaj said prima facie it seems the serial blasts have been done by some terrorist organisation. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and DGP Abhyanand have left for Bodhgaya by road. Gaya is a Maoist stronghold. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Serial explosions inside and outside Mahabodhi temple in Bihar were a terror attack, the Home Ministry said today as it sent NIA and NSG teams for post-blasts investigations.

“It was a terror attack,” Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami told PTI.

He, however, said so far no group has claimed responsibility for the multiple blasts and investigations were on.

Goswami said four blasts took place inside the temple complex while four occurred outside it.

The Home Secretary said teams from National Investigation Agency and National Security Guard comprising explosive experts were sent to Bihar to help the police in collection of evidence and assist in post-blasts investigation.

Two people were injured in the serial blasts early this morning in the temple town of Bodh Gaya. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee today strongly condemned the terror strike on the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya and said such attacks on religious places will "never be tolerated". 

"The Prime Minister has strongly condemned the blasts in around the sacred Mahabodhi Temple at Bodhgaya. He has said that our composite culture and traditions teach us respect for all religions and such attacks on religious places will never be tolerated," a Prime Minister's Office release said here.

The Prime Minister also wished speedy recovery to the people injured in the attack. Nine serial blasts took place inside and outside the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya early this morning in which two people were injured.

Congress general secretary and communication department in-charge Ajay Maken said, "We condemn this horrific incident in Bodhgaya. I urge the state government and other agencies to bring the guilty to justice as soon as possible. We also wish speedy recovery to all the injured."

President Pranab Mukherjee also condemned the serial blasts at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya as a senseless act of violence to target innocent pilgrims. Expressing deep anguish over the blasts, he said it was a "senseless act of violence targeting innocent pilgrims and monks who had gathered to worship at this temple dedicated to the great apostle of peace - Gautam Buddha". In a statement, the President hoped for the speedy recovery of those injured in the blasts.

Asking people to maintain calm and restraint, he asked them to cooperate with the authorities in bringing the perpetrators to justice. Nine serial explosions rocked the internationally renowned temple town of Bodhgaya, including four in the Mahabodhi Temple complex, injuring two monks in the blasts. The Mahabodhi Temple is frequented by Buddhist pilgrims from Sri Lanka, China and Japan and the whole of southeast Asia.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama makes frequent trips to Bodhgaya and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had visited it six months back. A total of 52 countries have established their monasteries here. — PTI

NEW DELHI: BJP and other Opposition parties on Sunday accused the Centre and the Bihar government of failing to take steps to avert the terror strike at the Mahabodhi temple despite specific warnings of intelligence agencies.

“It is a serious issue that central agencies had warned about this attack and given specific inputs that Bodh Gaya would be attacked and still no proper arrangements were made (by the state government). The central government must also take responsibility to avoid such attacks,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said here.

“The Central intelligence agencies had conveyed that in view of whatever was happening in Myanmar, terrorists would attempt something in Bodh Gaya temple. Despite that no steps were taken to improve security,” he said.

The BJP leader said it was a serious issue that the terrorists have chosen to attack the temple of Buddha who gave the world the message of peace.

“BJP condemns the terror attacks in Bodh Gaya. We demand that the Centre and the state governments should take steps so that such incidents should not be repeated,” Javadekar said, adding that adequate steps should be taken by the authorities at other Buddhist circuit shrines.

Attacking the Nitish Kumar government, LJP supremo Ramvilas Paswan said the blasts reflect the failure of the state government to have acted in time to avert the strike.

“The blasts took place even after alerts were given by the Government of India. The responsibility lies with the Chief Minister and the state and this has damaged Bihar’s image internationally,” he said. — PTI

San Francisco: An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 passenger jet crashed and burst into flames on Saturday as it landed short of the runway at San Francisco International Airport, killing two persons and injuring 182 others. Flight 214 had 307 people - 291 passengers and 16 crew - on board when it left Seoul.

The aircraft apparently struck a rocky area at the water's edge short of the runway at the airport - a major international hub, especially for flights to and from Asia.

"It is incredible and very lucky that we have so many survivors. But there are still many that are critically injured," said San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee who also sent condolences to the families of those killed and hurt.
The plane's tail "hit the runway and the aircraft veered to the left out of the runway," South Korea's transportation ministry said in a statement Sunday from Seoul.

It was the first fatal crash involving an Asiana passenger plane since June 1993, when an Asiana Boeing 737 crashed into a mountain in South Korea, killing 68.

Pictures showed the tail detached from the fuselage, and the landing gear had also sheared off.

"At this time there are two fatalities," the city's fire chief Joanne Hayes-White said.

One of the two dead "carried a Chinese passport," and the nationality of the other victim was unclear, said Lee Jeong-Gwan, the foreign ministry's ambassador for overseas Koreans and consular affairs, told reporters, quoting a US forensic in touch with South Korean officials.
No one was unaccounted for, US officials said, revising downwards an earlier estimate of dozens. The remainder of those on board, 123, were uninjured.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said there was no indication that terrorism was to blame for the crash.

Survivor Elliott Stone told CNN that as it came in to land, it appeared the plane "sped up, like the pilot knew he was short."

"And then the back end just hit and flies up in the air and everybody's head goes up to the ceiling."

Video footage showed the jet on its belly surrounded by firefighters with debris scattered on the runway and in the surrounding area.

"It looked normal at first the wheels were down," an unidentified man who witnessed the crash told CNN. "It just hit (the seawall) like that and the whole thing just collapsed immediately.

"It just pancaked immediately. The wings caught on the tarmac." 
A team of experts from the National Transportation Safety Board was heading to San Francisco to investigate the crash landing.

A four-member South Korean government team was also heading to inspect the site of the accident, officials in Seoul said.

"Everything is on the table at this point," NTSB chairwoman Debbie Hersman told reporters in Washington when asked if pilot error was to blame. "We have to gather the facts before we reach any conclusions."

One dramatic photo tweeted by a survivor showed people streaming out of the jet following the crash-landing. An inflatable slide was at the front entrance. Other emergency exits also appeared to have been used.

"I just crash landed at SFO. Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I'm ok," the passenger, David Eun, wrote on Twitter.

But another photo from above showed a more distressing scene, with most of the roof of the plane missing and the cabin seating area charred by fire. The aircraft's wings were still attached.

"I saw some passengers bleeding and being loaded onto an ambulance," another passenger, Chun Ki-Wan, told YTN TV in Seoul.

"Everything seemed to be normal before it crash-landed."

Stone said he feared for the flight crew seated in the back of the plane, which took off in Shanghai, stopped in Seoul and then headed to the United States.

"They were sitting in the back end and got hammered because we landed short. And then they all fell out and it was just the most terrible thing I've seen," he said.

The airport was closed immediately after the incident but two runways later reopened. Some flights were diverted to Los Angeles. 
Among those on board were 77 Koreans, 141 Chinese, 61 US citizens, and one Japanese national, Asiana said in a statement.

San Francisco General Hospital said it was treating 34 patients, five of them in critical condition.

Local media cited multiple witnesses who said the plane had approached the runway at an awkward angle, with several onlookers saying they then heard a loud bang.

"You heard a pop and you immediately saw a large, brief fireball that came from underneath the aircraft," Anthony Castorani, who saw the crash from a nearby hotel, told CNN.

The accident site was covered in white foam used by firefighters, with at least six fire trucks at the scene.

The White House said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the incident, noting: "His thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost a loved one and all those affected by the crash."

Asiana is based in Seoul. The twin-engine 777 aircraft is one of the world's most popular long-distance planes, often used for flights of 12 hours or more, from one continent to another. — AFP

NEW DELHI: With incessant rains over the last two days hampering relief operations in Uttarakhand, the state government today geared up to requisition choppers which can be flown even in bad weather to take food supplies to affected areas in Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts.

As the network of major roads in these districts are still damaged making it impossible for the administration to transport trucks carrying relief material to affected villages especially the ones totally cut off, weather resistant choppers are the only option left for the authorities to ensure food supplies to villages facing foodgrain shortage, an official said.

The state Disaster Management and Mitigation Department will hold an emergency meeting today to discuss how choppers capable of flying even in bad weather can be pressed into service.

The team of experts dispatched to Kedarghati for removal of debris and disposal of bodies is also finding it difficult to carry out the exercise due to wet weather and lack of heavy equipment, official sources here said.

The lightweight equipment provided by the NDRF is proving inadequate to remove tonnes of debris in Kedarghati under which bodies may still be lying, they said.

Paucity of foodstuff for personnel engaged in the exercise at the high altitude shrine has further complicated their task, they said.

The food stocks at the Himalayan shrine are fast running out and some of the personnel engaged in the operation are also reported to be sick.

A 13-member police team trying to tear its way through heaps of debris lying on the roads to Kedarnath had to return from Rambada to Gaurikund as it could not go further.

Fresh spell of rains in Kedarghati over the past two days have instilled fear among residents of villages adjoining the shrine with waters of Mandakini and Alaknanda constantly on the rise.

Relief material could not be transported to affected villages in Kedarghati over the past three days due to bad weather.

Administration claims that relief material has been distributed in 36 villages of Rudraprayag but the number of affected villages in the district is 128 which means 80 more villages are immediately in need of relief.

Relief choppers could not operate even in Chamoli, Pithoragarh and Uttarkashi districts due to inclement weather compounding the problems of affected people as well as those of police personnel engaged in relief work.

It is also being considered to recall the team sent to Kedarnath for removal of debris and disposal of bodies and replace it with a new one, an official here said. — PTI