A powerful bomb killed five passengers on a bus in northeastern India on Thursday as fears of more attacks put the country on high security alert on the eve of its annual Independence Day celebrations.
The blast in Manipur state, which also left 15 people injured, was the latest in a string of attacks blamed on rebels in the region, where 11 separatist groups have called a boycott of Friday’s national event.
A boycott was also called in Indian-administered Kashmir, where the day marking India’s independence from Britain in 1947 has always been observed as a ”black day” by militants and those who want the region to secede from New Delhi.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both.
”We appeal to the people of Kashmir to observe an exemplary one-day strike on August 15 to impress upon the world that Kashmiris will continue their struggle until they achieve freedom,” the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the region’s separatist alliance, said on Thursday.
The alliance has its headquarters in Kashmir’s summer capital, Srinagar, which is the scene every August 15 of anti-Indian protests by demonstrators waving black flags and clashing with police.
Worries of attacks by Islamic guerrillas around Independence Day led federal security forces to boost defence measures, especially in troubled Kashmir.
”We have deployed adequate troops to prevent militant attacks,” a spokesperson for the Border Security Force paramilitary unit said, adding that checkpoints and 24-hour patrols had already been set up in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.
In Kashmir’s Hindu-dominated winter capital, Jammu, the authorities on Thursday deployed 10 000 additional paramilitary troops and units from Indian army’s combat formations for Friday’s event.
Police Inspector General PL Gupta said security cordons had been set up around two sports stadiums in Srinagar and Jammu to prevent guerrilla attacks during the annual celebrations.
”Tight security measures have been taken because of the series of mine and bomb explosions in different parts of the state, in which five civilians have died and over 60 injured in the last 24 hours,” Gupta said.
A police spokesperson in Jammu said soldiers were bringing in military hardware to protect key facilities in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, where 38 000 people have died in militancy-related violence since 1989.
”Paramilitary forces have been posted at crowded places, including rail stations and bus stops, to stop rebels from triggering bomb explosions,” he said, adding a night curfew was being enforced in all frontier villages of Kashmir.
In the financial hub of Bombay, which has seen a spate of bomb attacks this year, about 25 000 policemen were being deployed, Joint Police Commissioner Ahmad Javed said.
”We have made elaborate arrangements, both visible and widespread, to create a physical impact in the city on Friday. We have also launched search operations in the past few days in the lead up to Independence Day,” Javed said.
”Special efforts are being taken to protect key installations in the city after the series of bomb attacks, the last being just a few weeks back.”
In the Indian capital, Delhi, 5 000 policemen, troopers and commandos were ringing the Moghul-built Red Fort, from where Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was to address the nation on Friday.
A police spokesperson said the airspace over Red Fort would be off-limits to civilian flights for several hours on Friday and security would be reinforced around key installations in New Delhi.
Several other states, including the riot-torn province of Gujarat, sounded a full security alert on Thursday and deployed tens of thousands of police and security personnel for the celebrations. — Sapa-AFP