Investigation
No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings. The Bangalore Police Commissioner, Shankar Bidari, termed the blasts "an act of miscreants" trying to disturb peace in the city. The Union Home Ministry of India named the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba and Students Islamic Movement of India, as the suspects.
The Bangalore Police said that attack "bore some hallmarks" of the Bangladesh-based militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI).
The Central Government of India had warned the Karnataka state government one day earlier that state was high on the terror hitlist along with six other Indian states – Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Assam – and Union Territory Delhi.
There is a possible connection with the Andhra and Varanasi attacks. An official was quoted as saying "The aim of these groups, whether HuJI or LeT or Simi, is clear. Bangalore and Hyderabad are being chosen as targets to create panic in the US as the cities house biggest IT companies from the US." The Andhra – Karnataka link involves Raziuddin Nasir, a Hyderabad resident, and his aide Hafiz Khan Adnan from Bangalore, were arrested near Hubli in Karnataka this year. Furthermore, another clear link between the terror elements in both blasts is the explosive material used. In the Bangalore blasts an explosive with an ammonium nitrate base was used, while in the Gokul Chat and Lumbini Park explosions in Hyderabad a similar ammonium nitrate base was used. These were also of low intensity with the aim of creating panic. Like the Malegaon and Mecca Masjid blasts, it took place on a Friday during or just after the prayers. In response to these blasts security was also beefed up in Andhra Pradesh.
It was also reported that sleeper cells have gained a firm foothold in Karnataka with the discovery of terror camps in the Karnataka forest early in the year. In this vein, near-simultaneous blasts – all having the footprint of the jehadi network that had carried out blasts in Varanasi, Jaipur, Mumbai and elsewhere – point to the strong foothold terrorists have made in the city.
On 29 July, the Bangalore police Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested a SIMI activist named Sameer Sadiq in connection with the blasts. According to the police, Sadiq had played a key role in the Surat riots. He was staying at Gurapanapalya in Bangalore, the area which incidentally housed the SIMI office before it had been banned.
On 30 July 2008, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) indicated that two men – Rasool Khan Parti and Mohammad Sufiya Ahmed Patangiya – currently living at Farahan Arcade Gulistan in Karachi were the masterminds behind the Ahmedabad and the Bangalore serial blasts. They used to reside in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Both are possibly members of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami. The Gujarat Police has been looking for them in connection to the murder of former Gujarat state minister Haren Pandya.
On December 2009, two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists including Lashkar's South India commander Thadiyantevide Nasir were arrested by the Indian Forces from the Bangladesh border. Interrogation of them lead to significant evidences to the serial blasts in several Indian cities in 2008 especially the Bangalore blasts. Nasir's arrest paved way for the arrest of several Muslim youth from Kerala involved in terrorism, as well as evidences for terror links of Kerala politician Abdul Nasser Madani. His wife Soofiya Madani was arrested by Kerala Police on 19 December 2009 on the ground that she had taken an active role in Kalamassery Tamil Nadu state transportation corporation bus burning case. She has also confessed to Kerala Police, her involvement in organising the bus burning and planting bomb near coimbatore press club in retaliation to poor treatment of her husband in coimbatore jail. The main accused in the case,T Nasir, an Islamik sevak sangh activist (wing of PDP) turned Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist is said to had actively coordinated and obtained endorsement from Soofiya Madani. T Nazir is involved in the cases ranging from the attempted murder of former kerala chief minister to the recent Bangalore bomb blast for which he is under custody of Karnataka police. Bangalore police has already obtained ample proof that T Nazir and his associates like Abdul Sattar has good link with Madani family. These sequence of events has brought serious question to Kerala's position holding the image of a good secular fabric in its society.
Read more about this topic: 2008 Bangalore Bombing