Too many bombs

This item appears on page 21 of the September 2008 issue.

AFGHANISTAN — A suicide bomber killed more than 40 people in front of the Indian Embassy in Kabul on July 7. Taliban insurgents have vowed to increase bombings to fight the pro-Western government and drive out foreign forces. India is funding large infrastructure projects in Afghanistan.

INDIA — In Gujarat state in western India, 22 bombs went off on July 26 in the city of Ahmadabad, killing 42 and injuring hundreds. They were set off in crowded markets, buses and even the hospitals where victims had been taken.

Two days later, police found and defused 18 bombs planted near the diamond markets in Surat, Gujarat state. Police recently also defused three bombs in a village about 190 miles north of Jaipur, Rajasthan state.

Repeated bomb attacks in India in recent years mostly have been attributed to militant Islamic groups, but officials have rarely produced evidence to implicate specific groups.

PAKISTAN — Eighteen people were killed in Islamabad on July 6 when a suicide bomber detonated in front of a police station. Sixteen police were among the dead.

On July 8, none were killed but about 40 people were injured when at least five bombs went off in 30 minutes in the Pashto neighborhoods of Karachi. Responsibility for the attacks has not been determined.

PHILIPPINES — In Manila, the U.S. Embassy warned against travel to the island of Mindanao after several power lines in North Cotabato province were blown up in July, presumably by a rebel Islamic group in peace talks with the government. In May, a bomb killed two people in Zamboanga.

SPAIN — In northern Spain, one person was injured but no one was killed on July 20 when four bombs went off on tourist beaches in Loredo and Noja, halfway between Santander and Bilbao. The Basque militant group ETA claimed responsibility.

TURKEY — Two bombs went off in a busy shopping street in the Gungoren district of Istanbul on July 28. Seventeen people were killed and more than 150 injured, making it the deadliest bombing attack in Turkey since 2003.

The double-explosions strategy had the signature of a PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) attack, but, at press time, the group had denied responsibility.