A series of nine blasts rocked the Mahabodhi temple complex in Bodhgaya, Bihar, on Sunday morning, injuring two people.
The first blast took place around morning prayers after 5 am, followed by eight successive blasts. There were two other bombs reportedly found outside the temple and defused. Four explosions took place inside the complex, three blasts took place at Terega Monastery and the two of them were near the famous 80 feet statute of Lord Buddha.
The bombs were reportedly of low-intensity and did not cause any damage to the temple shrine.
The injured were a Buddhist monk from Myanmar and a pilgrim from Tibet, police officials told a newspaper daily. Both were rushed to hospital. There were not many people inside the temple when the blasts took place.
"The sanctum of the Mahabodhi Temple is intact. The identity of the injured monks is yet to be ascertained. They have been rushed to the Magadh hospital for treatment," said DIG Nayyar Husnain Khan.
"We were doing our daily rituals in the temple when we heard a big explosion," an eyewitness told a news channel.
Police officials said that intelligence agencies had tipped off the state government about a possible terror threat to the shrine. Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami confirmed it to be a terrorist attack.
National Investigation Agency (NIA) and National Security Guard (NSG) teams are on their way to Bodhgaya.
The incident took place a week after Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde announced and praised the steps taken by the ministry to combat terrorism through NSG hubs in various metro-cities.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has arrived in Bodhgaya. For security reasons the temple premises have been cleared and security has been beefed up in other religious sites of the district as well.
In the wake of Sunday's blasts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh strongly condemned the attack at the sacred temple shrine in BodhGaya. "Our composite culture and traditions teach us respect for all religions. Such attacks on religious places will never be tolerated," he said in a statement.
Bodhgaya, a town 130 km south of Patna, attracts a large numbers of pilgrims, especially from Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. The Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 2002.
