India bombing attack on German Bakery and Jewish Chabad

[The Grim Squeaker]

Surprised not to see this posted or even commented on more in news outlets:

At least nine people have been killed and 57 others injured in a bomb attack at a restaurant in India's western city of Pune, officials say.

The explosion tore through the German Bakery, which is popular with tourists, in Koregaon Park.

The bombing is the first major strike of its kind in India since the deadly Mumbai attacks in November 2008.

Reports that one of the dead is a foreign national have not yet been confirmed by the Indian authorities.

Several foreigners were said to be among the injured.

Pune in shock at bombing
The explosion at the restaurant, on North Main Road, happened at about 1900 (1330 GMT), when it was packed with diners.

"It appears that an unattended package was noticed in the bakery by one of the waiters who apparently attempted to open the package when the blast took place," Indian Home Secretary GK Pillai was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"We heard a big noise and we all rushed out. The impact was so great that there were body parts everywhere," Vinod Dhale, who works at the restaurant, told Reuters.

Anti-terror squad officers have gone to the scene.

The German Bakery, on the ground floor of a corner building in a plush area of Pune, has been reduced to rubble.

The rest of the building is still intact and anti-terrorist squads from Mumbai have gone in to try to determine the type of explosive used in the blast.

The street has been cordoned off and the area is very quiet now.

Whenever I have visited this bakery in the past - last time was a few months ago - it has always been very crowded.

It was a very quaint, old place, the limited seating areas full of students and foreign visitors from the nearby Osho Ashram eating Western food.

A security alert was issued for Chabad House, a Jewish centre for learning in the vicinity of the German Bakery, in October 2009, India's Home Office said.

But the German Bakery was not deemed to be at risk at the time.

Nearby shops were badly damaged and reported to have been splattered with blood.

"I came running to the bakery after hearing the explosion. I found people lying all over the place", local resident Abba More told AP.

Initial reports had suggested the explosion was caused by a gas cylinder.

The German Bakery is near the Osho Ashram, a mystic centre popular with visitors to Pune.

The Chabad centre, run by the Jewish Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement, is also in the vicinity.

Members of the Chabad-Lubavitch were targeted in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and in October 2009 the home ministry issued a security alert for the Chabad centre in Pune.

No-one has yet said they carried out the latest attack.

However Home Minister P Chidambaram described it as "a significant terrorist incident".

"All the evidence points to a deliberate plot," he told AFP.

The bomb blast comes a day after India and Pakistan agreed to meet for talks in Delhi on February 25.

The talks will be their first formal negotiations since the Mumbai attacks.

No conclusions could be drawn yet as to who was responsible for the blast, Mr Pillai said.

"Forensic investigations have just begun. Till they are completed, we will not know who is [involved]", he told AP.

The home ministry has issued an advisory to all state governments to be on high alert.

[UnderAGreySky]

Apparently, this is one of the locations that David Headley scouted on his trips to India. There is a lot of information that comes to us second hand from the US, and yet they refuse to allow Indian interrogators access to him. Quite disgusting, IMO. If you remember the attacks of 26/11/2008, one of the centres targeted was a Jewish rest/guest home which was also scouted by Headley.

"Talks" with the Pakistanis, IMO, are useless. I wonder which is the best stick to hit them with. Incidentally, our neighbours are firing across the Line of Control over the last week. Now that winter is over, it's ideal time for terrorists to infiltrate. And so their pals in the Army lay down covering fire for them.

This is going to get ugly sooner or later.

[Broomstick]

Just FYI, the BBC and The Washington Post both picked up the story, although it wasn't headline news for either. Not entirely ignored, but not likely to be seen by casual browsers, either.

[UnderAGreySky]

It wasn't completely ignored, yes, the BBC did run it on their main page for half the day and on the News section for a while more. But terrorists attacks in India don't get coverage in the west.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

No, from experience, the Pakistanis hardliners are pretty black and white. Apparently, to them, a good indian, is a dead one. They would never admit their prejudice, but it's clear that they are pretty belligerent, and the continued US aid to them is really playing with fire, if you ask me.

[K. A. Pital]

But Pakistan helps the United States for a meager price of support keep Soviet India in check, can you not see? How can it happen that the US would not have some sort of proxy (even a very bad one, regardless) as a counterbalance to just about any nation in the world - this is a catastrophe for the New American Century! Heh.

The U.S. would not stop supporting Pakistan. Well, unless of course it goes to war with Pakistan after it's government collapses, providing such happens in the future.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

But Pakistan helps the United States for a meager price of support keep Soviet India in check, can you not see? How can it happen that the US would not have some sort of proxy (even a very bad one, regardless) as a counterbalance to just about any nation in the world - this is a catastrophe for the New American Century! Heh.

The U.S. would not stop supporting Pakistan. Well, unless of course it goes to war with Pakistan after it's government collapses, providing such happens in the future.

Funniest part is that the Pakistanis are playing lip-service to US demands, and doing their own thing, irregardless if they let a few terrorists who threaten US interests escape.

[UnderAGreySky]

But Pakistan helps the United States for a meager price of support keep Soviet India in check, can you not see? How can it happen that the US would not have some sort of proxy (even a very bad one, regardless) as a counterbalance to just about any nation in the world - this is a catastrophe for the New American Century! Heh.

The U.S. would not stop supporting Pakistan. Well, unless of course it goes to war with Pakistan after it's government collapses, providing such happens in the future.

While this was true in the past, I'm not so sure it is valid now. Pakistan is important not to counter India (we're looked at more as a customer now, what with the Trenton, C-130Js, possible F/A-18Es, Aerostats...) but to have a point of entry into Afghanistan. Not humouring Pakistan would mean an already violent and rabid fundamentalist base starts being openly supportive of the Taliban. Afghanistan is landlocked, after all, and the US can't get in there any other way.

[K. A. Pital]

Afghanistan, yeah, for the last 8 year or so that is certainly true. In the grand scheme of things though, the U.S. has always been keen on playing on the tensions and splits between various nations.

Once the US leaves Afghanistan (if ever), and Pakistan is no longer of much use, what then? Somehow I don't think the US would just abandon the idea of supplying Pakistan with weapons and politically supporting it. There were plenty of good reasons to stop doing it in the past (before Pakistan became critical as a supply route to Afghanistan), but the US didn't, to my knowledge.

Being a U.S. customer does not mean you are exempt from the U.S. divide and conquer ideas - Iran and Iraq come to mind immediately.

[Shroom Man 777]

Man. Do you think Saddam Hussein expected, back when he shook Donald Rumsfeld's hands and when the US vetoed that UN resolution on condemning Iraqi gas attacks and just let him go off scott free despite blowing up a US oil tanker, that a few years down the line the Amerikaner's would be dragging him out of a hole, putting him in a tribunal (with pen missiles), and then have him hanged in some crappy apartment building's stairwell?

[UnderAGreySky]

Afghanistan, yeah, for the last 8 year or so that is certainly true. In the grand scheme of things though, the U.S. has always been keen on playing on the tensions and splits between various nations.

Once the US leaves Afghanistan (if ever), and Pakistan is no longer of much use, what then? Somehow I don't think the US would just abandon the idea of supplying Pakistan with weapons and politically supporting it. There were plenty of good reasons to stop doing it in the past (before Pakistan became critical as a supply route to Afghanistan), but the US didn't, to my knowledge.

Being a U.S. customer does not mean you are exempt from the U.S. divide and conquer ideas - Iran and Iraq come to mind immediately.

Assuming Bin Laden was killed, the Taleban destroyed and Iran's regime was overthrown, i.e., the US would not need Afghanistan any more, I don't think the US would care about Pakistan as a counter to India. On the contrary, I'd expect them to be more pally with India for two reasons:

1) A billion potential customers for goods made by American companies
2) As a counter to the *Chinese* military threat. We share a rather large border with them, and have fought (and lost) a war almost 50 years ago. Why do you think Cope India / Yudh Abhyas / Malabar exercises happen? Or the Sukhois being invited to Red Flag and the Jaguars to Alaska?

I expect fully for Boeing to win the MRCA contract too, and more than likely GE and Honeywell will start supplying aero engines to us.

[K. A. Pital]

Assuming Bin Laden was killed, the Taleban destroyed and Iran's regime was overthrown, i.e., the US would not need Afghanistan any more...

That's a lot of assumptions. I do not see a realistic option to "overthrow" the rule in Iran any time soon unless the US wants to risk setting the entire Middle East in flames of war (in addition to Afghanistan and Iraq). Taleban... let's be realistic now. It just won't go. It was fostered for years, and large swaths of Afghanistan are dysfunctional to the point where nobody knows if the "Karzai government" or the Taliban controls them. Afghanistan is a failure; if the US ever pulls out, I doubt it will be at a point when Afghanistan becomes a functional state. That's too long to wait.

Besides, like I said, there was a period when the US had no ongoing military ventures in the Middle East; but support and supply of Pakistan did not end.

As a counter to the *Chinese* military threat.

For that the US foster Taiwan and Japan.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

The Indian Government is too proud for them to be at the beck and call of the United States anyway. Not least, export controls have consistently led the Indians to work with the Russians in exchange for technology the US would never provide.

[UnderAGreySky]

That's a lot of assumptions.

I should have made myself clear, that was a hypothetical; intended to assume an ideal situation where Pakistan was not needed for operations in Afghanistan. My apologies. In such a situation, I believe, the US would drop Pakistan.

For that the US foster Taiwan and Japan.

More wouldn't hurt, would it?

The Indian Government is too proud for them to be at the beck and call of the United States anyway. Not least, export controls have consistently led the Indians to work with the Russians in exchange for technology the US would never provide.

Well, true... we're still suspicious of the US. We had sanctions after the 1998 nuke tests (not that they hurt much), and some "dual-use" items such as ring-laser gyros are still banned. In fact, even Russia is not allowed to sell such items to us, we've had to design our own. The MCTR too disallows Russia to assist us with missiles that have a range greater than 300 km, so the Brahmos has a specified range of....

....290 km

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Well, true... we're still suspicious of the US. We had sanctions after the 1998 nuke tests (not that they hurt much), and some "dual-use" items such as ring-laser gyros are still banned. In fact, even Russia is not allowed to sell such items to us, we've had to design our own. The MCTR too disallows Russia to assist us with missiles that have a range greater than 300 km, so the Brahmos has a specified range of....

....290 km

Items like ring-laser gyros will never be sold. They would be used in missiles for long range guidance.