Terrorism-related Incidents in Gujarat since 2007

2012

January 29: Habib alias Habibfalahi Shaikh (25), an accused in the 2008 Ahmedabad bomb blast and Surat bomb planting cases, was arrested by the Ahmadabad city Police.
January 2: The Ahmadabad city crime branch officials believe that Habib Phalai alias Taiyab, arrested in Uttar Pradesh on December 28 in the Ahmadabad serial blasts case, may be connected to the other accused from Azamgarh involved in various serial blasts across India.

2011

December 28: The UP ATS in coordination with Ahmadabad Crime branch team arrested an alleged SIMI operative wanted in 2008 Ahmadabad blast case. Habib alias Tayyab, a native of Nizamabad area of Azamgarh District, was arrested from Jahangirganj area of Ambedkar Nagar District.
December 18: Pakistani woman spy Soofia Kanwal, who was arrested at New Delhi along with her companion Imran on December 5, is suspected to be a suicide bomber or fidayeen. Preliminary inputs from IB and R&AW suggest that a woman fidayeen trained in Pakistani jihad launch pads had infiltrated into India on a terror mission.

During interrogation, Police have found out that senior BJP leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was on her radar and she was giving finishing touches to her terror plan on directions from her Pakistan. Soofia also had Gujarat's Akshardham temple on her radar.
December 17: CBI registered a case of murder against 20 Policemen in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case in Gujarat. The fresh FIR was registered by the probe agency after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) gave its complaint to the CBI on December 15, 2011 saying that the encounter was staged. Besides murder, they have also been charged with destruction of evidence.
December 12: Delhi Police revealed that they had arrested two Pakistani spies, identified as Soofia Kanwal and Imran, trained in Nepal, on December 5, from New Delhi Railway Station.
September 12: The person who had sent the third e-mail to Delhi Police claiming the responsibility of the Delhi High Court blast (September 7, 2011) and warning of future terrorist strike was arrested from Ahmadabad by Gujarat Police.
July 16: The Police arrested a person, Shehzad Ismail Rangrezi, from new Shah Alam area in Ahmadabad after being alerted by his live-in partner that he had assembled bombs.
January 18: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Ishrat Jahan encounter case (June 15, 2004) claimed to have found that both the alleged Pakistani militants who were shot dead along with Ishrat and Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Shaikh had faked their identities as Kashmiris.

2010

December 22: The Centre put Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Ahmedabad (Gujrat) on high alert after getting specific intelligence inputs that LeT militants had sneaked into these two cities to strike at any time in coming days.
December 6: According to a recent secret diplomatic cable of the United States State Department released by WikiLeaks, Pakistan-based militant outfit LeT had made elaborate plans in June 2009 to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
October 8: Key witnesses of the bomb explosion cases in Ajmer dargah (October 11, 2007) and Malegaon (September 29, 2008) disclosed that the plotting of these two incidents was carried out at Shabri Dham Ashram (hermitage) in Dangs region in south Gujarat. The shocking revelation was made by 11 witnesses belonging to Jharkhand, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh before a local court in Ajmer over the past 15 days. Rajasthan's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) recorded their statements under section 164 of CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code), and is likely to file a charge sheet this month. According to the reports, three persons, Swami Asmanand, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and Sunil Joshi, planned the execution of the terror plot for the right-wing outfit Abhinav Bharat. While Asmanand is on the run, Pragya Thakur is in Malegaon jail and Sunil Joshi was killed mysteriously at Mhow in MP, almost two months after the Ajmer blast.
September 6: The Supreme Court stayed the death sentence of Adam Bhai Sulemanbhai Ajmeri and Abdul Kayum alias Muftisaab Mohmedbhai, who were convicted by a Special POTA court in Gujarat for causing the death of 37 persons at the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar in Gujarat in 2002. The judgment was affirmed by the Gujarat High Court. A Bench, consisting of Justices B. Sudershan Reddy and S.S. Nijjar, while staying the sentence, issued notice to Gujarat on appeals by the two convicts challenging the High Court judgment.
September 5: The convicts in the Akshardham temple attack case moved the Supreme Court seeking fresh probe by the CBI, saying that the Gujarat Police had botched up the investigation. The appeal by four convicts, including Adambhai Sulemanbhai Ajmeri and Abdul Kayum, who were given death penalty, said they were arrested pursuant to investigation conducted by then Deputy Superintendent of Police D. G. Vanzara, who is facing trial for a fake encounter killing incident. In the Akshardham temple attack case in Gandhinagar in Gujarat, 33 persons were killed due to indiscriminate firing by two militants on September 25, 2002.
August 12: The Gujarat High Court (HC) transferred the probe in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court to probe Godhra riots cases. Ishrat, a girl from Mumbra, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai from Pune, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar from Pakistan were killed in an encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The City Crime Branch that carried out the operation claimed that all four were members of a suicide squad of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) out to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The HC has also made it clear that SIT would not take any assistance from Gujarat officers, who are involved directly or indirectly with the encounter. In handing over the probe to SIT, the court has observed this would impart confidence and credibility to the investigation.
July 27: The Special Operation Group of the Gujarat Police arrested a Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) cadre, identified as Sayed Abid Ali Musa, from Vadodara. Ali Musa was produced in court and sent to judicial custody. The Police said that he was believed to have been involved in the July 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts and in the planting of 29 bombs in Surat at the same time. However, none of the bombs exploded due to a technical fault with the timers.
July 26: A Special Operations Group (SOG) team in Vadodra arrested a Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) cadre for his involvement in three-year-old incident when a group of protestors had displayed posters of al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden in Mandvi area. Abid Ali Moosa Saiyyad was arrested by SOG Police inspector H. M. Alsika on the basis of a tip-off. According to SOG officials, Abid had conspired with the protestors, who displayed Osama's posters during a ruckus with Police in May 2007. "Abid is in the business of making photo frames. The posters flashed by SIMI activists during protests in 2007 were prepared by Abid and he was involved in the conspiracy. I got information of Abid's involvement through a source," Alsika told Times of India. "Abid is a member of SIMI's sleeper cell. We demanded a remand of Abid to interrogate him, but it was rejected by the court. Till now, we have arrested 30 people in the case, including Abid," he added. The protestors had displayed Osama's posters in May 2007 to protest against the derogatory sketches that were found strewn in M.S. University campus. According to protestors, the sketches had hurt their religious sentiments, prompting their protest. The city police, too, were surprised as it had been for the first time that Osama's posters were displayed in open.
July 21: An intelligence report indicates that Pakistan’s ISI has renewed efforts to set up new sleeper cells in Gujarat and elsewhere in the country. For the last six months, the ISI has been trying to create new sleeper cells in the State to replace those of the SIMI that were neutralised by the Gujarat Police. Sources in the State intelligence said SIMI’s sleeper cells had provided key support to the terrorists who had carried out the bomb blasts in Ahmedabad in 2008. Though Simi is now banned, investigation into the activities of its suspected members has continued. The Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), Ahmedabad Police, recently arrested three persons suspected of planning bomb blasts in the city.
June 1: The Gujarat High Court upheld the special the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court's verdict and confirmed death sentence for three of the six convicts in the Akshardham temple terror attack that took place on September 24, 2002, reported Times of India. A division bench of Justice R.M. Doshit and Justice K. M. Thaker confirmed gallows for Chand Khan alias Shaan Miya from Bareilly, Adam Ajmeri and Mufti Abdul Qayyum Mansuri from Dariapur area in Ahmedabad for conspiring and providing logistics to the terrorists that stormed the temple killing 34 and injuring 81. The HC also confirmed life imprisonment of Mohammed Salim Shaikh, 10-year jail term for Abdullamiya Qadri and five-year term for Altaf Hussain Malek.
March 14: The Gujarat ATS has claimed to have arrested a suspected Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) militant, identified as Bashir Ahmed Baba alias "Aijaz" from the national highway near Anand. Gujarat ATS Chief Ajay Tomar said in Ahmadabad on March 14 that Bashir came from Srinagar on February 20 apparently to spot "terror talents" who would be willing to go for training in Pakistan and establish the terror network in Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat. Tomar also said that the 32-year-old Bashir was closely working with the HM’s top militants based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), including Bilal Shera, as well as with General Abdulla of the PoK-based Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (JUM). Bashir maintained his links with Bilal and his other Pakistan "handlers" through mobile phones and e-mails even after he came to Gujarat. "Police have recovered three mobile phones, four SIM cards, e-mail addresses and objectionable documents from him," Tomar added.
March 2: A terror alert has been sounded in five key cities of Gujarat following an intelligence tip-off, an official said. Cities marked out for enhanced vigil are Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat,Rajkot and Jamnagar. According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Ahmedabad) Satish Sharma, this was done following specific intelligence inputs.
February 23: The Maharashtra ATS detained another suspected militant in Gujarat as part of the ongoing probe into the February 13 Pune (Maharashtra) bomb blast. Sources said the suspected militant, identified as Faisal, was detained in Aane near Surat. Faisal, who is believed to be an active cadre of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) which also maintains links with the LeT and IM, is being questioned in connection with the Pune blast.
February 14: A huge cache of explosives, including 200 kilograms of ammonium nitrate and 600 detonators, were seized by Gujarat Police from Vapi area in Valsad District. Four bags containing 50 kilograms of explosive substance ammonium nitrate each and detonators were recovered from four persons traveling in a car from Vapi-Silvassa road, the report said. Four persons who were traveling in the car also arrested.
January 13: Seven Pakistani nationals have been arrested from a boat which was intercepted by the Boarder Security Force (BSF) in the Cori creek of Kutch District in Gujarat, a top BSF official said. "Our men intercepted a vessel which had crossed into Indian waters yesterday near the Cori Creek mouth in the Arabian sea. There were seven men inside the vessel who have been arrested and handed over to the local Police," BSF inspector general A.K. Sinha said. The vessel in which they had come has been seized and handed over to Police, he said, adding further investigations will be carried out by the District Police.
January 12: The special designated Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court convicted 22 persons while acquitting an equal number of accused in the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) conspiracy case. Several cases, including the Ahmedabad serial tiffin bomb blasts which the Gujarat Police claimed to be part of a conspiracy of Pakistan’s ISI to destabilize the State in 2003, were clubbed together and tried under the ISI conspiracy case at the designated POTA court.
January 11: Charge sheet has been filed against the 62 accused in connection with the July 26, 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts in which 57 people were killed by a special court. Among the 95 accused, 33 are still absconding (of whom, three are dead). The remaining 62 are in jail and were present in court. The 62 accused belong to 11 different States and were arrested at different times and from different places. Charges include hatching a conspiracy, waging war against the State, murder, attempt to murder, organising training camps for training terror activities, encouraging youths to join terror camps, and others. However, the charge sheet named Abu Bashar, Qyamuddin, Abdul Razeek and Zahid Sheikh as the main conspirators and masterminds of the blasts. The charge sheet mentioned that the conspirators had stolen a few cars from Mumbai, which were then laden with explosives and placed at strategic points in Ahmedabad, including the trauma centre of the Government civil hospital to cause greater damage. The explosives, however, were purchased in Ahmedabad. In other incidents, old bicycles fitted with bombs were used.

2009

December 26: BSF personnel along the Kutch border in Gujarat have gone into high alert after two Pakistani boats with armed occupants, made yet another attempt to infiltrate into India from Harami Nala area near Sir Creek at about 12.30 am IST.
November 18: The Indian Coast Guard arrested eight Pakistani nationals and seized their boat from Jakhau region near the International Marine Border (IMB) in Gujarat's Kutch District.
November 9: A Metropolitan court in Ahmedabad remanded two SIMI cadres to 14 days in Police custody.
November 3: The Ahmedabad Police submitted 66 charge-sheets filed in 20 cases lodged in connection with the serial blasts of July 26, 2008 which killed over 59 persons in the city, to a special court for trial.

The Surat Police has also reportedly filed numerous charge-sheets in connection with 15 FIRs lodged after 29 unexploded bombs were recovered from various areas in Surat in the week that followed the Ahmedabad bomb blasts.
October 30: A Pakistani boat, which had intruded into Indian waters near Sir Creek area of Kutch District in Gujarat, was seized by the BSF personnel on but its occupants managed to escape. The BSF has heightened vigil in the area after receiving inputs of increased ISI activities in the creek area, they said.
October 13: The Surat Crime Branch officials filed a chargesheet against three suspects, identified as Mohammed Tanvir, Mohammed Yashin and Mohammed Anik, for their involvement in the Surat bomb planting case in July 2008.
October 6: Seven more Pakistani nationals, claiming to be fishermen, were arrested by the Coast Guard off Okha in the Jamnagar District of Gujarat. Their boat, Al-Firoze, was also seized. According to official sources, one of the fishermen arrested on October 4 was found to be an agent of the ISI.

October 4: Five Pakistani nationals were arrested from creek area on the west coast of Kutch District in Gujarat by the Border Security Force personnel. The boat in which they were travelling was also seized.
August 17: Nine Pakistani infiltrators, including six Balochis, were arrested in the Kutch District. The nine intruders were taken to the Joint Interrogation Cell in Bhuj on August 18. The water wing of the Border Security Force had lodged a complaint at Dayapar Police station in Lakhpat taluka (administrative unit) after they arrested the intruders for moving suspiciously near the 250-MW Akarimota power plant of the Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation near Nani Chher village of Kutch District. The Kutch Superintendent of Police, Wabang Jamir, said, ‘‘It’s too early to say anything. Preliminary interrogation revealed that six of them are Baloch and hence we’re concerned. We will be able to tell more after further interrogation.’’ According to Police, the group of men started from Buddhu port near Karachi in Pakistan. Since the Baloch aren’t traditionally fishermen the authorities reportedly suspect their story that they were out for fishing.
June 13: A local court in Ahmedabad sent four Indian Mujahideen militants to Police custody till June 25, in connection with the Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts case. The four were reportedly brought on transit remand from the national capital Delhi. The four IM cadres are also accused of the serial bomb blasts in Delhi.
June 1: One bomb and a letter of the SIMI were recovered between the rail lines at around 50 metres from the Anand railway station, the Police said. The bomb, defused later, was reportedly attached to a timer device and had metal shrapnel and glass pieces. The letter was typed in Gujarati and signed in the name of the banned SIMI, asking the people to join ‘jihad’ and follow the SIMI. The origin of the letter was being investigated, the Police added.
February 11: 18 Pakistani nationals were arrested along with two boats by the Indian Coast Guard near the Jakhau coast in Kutch District. An official spokesman said the fishermen were taken to Jakhau, where after preliminary investigation they would be handed over to the Kutch Police for questioning. It was the second time in the last few days that Pakistani boats were found in the Indian territorial waters and seized. Three boats with 24 Pakistani nationals were reportedly seized near the Jakhau port last week.
January 18: Four locally-made live bombs were recovered by the Gujarat Police from the Karanj area of Ahmedabad.
January 15: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) seized two Pakistani boats and arrested 17 Pakistani nationals aboard the boats near the Cori creek coast in Gujarat. After seizing the boats, the ICG ship towed it to Jakhau coast, where all the arrested Pakistani nationals were being interrogated. "While carrying out patrolling inside our International Maritime Boundary (IMB), one of our fast patrolling craft P-142 apprehended two Pakistani fishing trawlers with 17 Pakistanis on it, 12 nautical miles off the Cori creek coast in Gujarat," a Coast Guard official said. The official did not rule out the possibility of the two boats being used for carrying out anti-India activities.

2008

December 4: A Madhya Pradesh court handed over an alleged terrorist, identified as Qayimuddin alias Musa alias Rizwan, wanted in connection with the July 26 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts, to the Anti-Terrorism Squad of the Gujarat Police.
December 2: Seven Pakistani nationals, who claimed they were fishermen, were detained and their fishing trawler was seized by the Indian Coast Guard in the Jakhau port in Gujarat. A Coast Guard spokesman said the boat "Al Rafiq" was intercepted when the men were found fishing deep inside Indian territorial waters.
November 10: Gujrat Police has said that the Madhya Pradesh Police have arrested the main conspirators of the July 26 Ahmedabad serial blasts, identified as Qayamuddin Kapadia, from an unspecified place in Madhya Pradesh. Qayamuddin allegedly planted cycle bombs in the Ahmedabad as well as bombs in different parts of Surat and was also responsible for purchase of cycles on which the bombs were planted and kept in different parts of the city, said Joint Commissioner of Police of Ahmedabad city, Ashish Bhatia. He was also an expert in using explosives, and reportedly present during various Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) terror training camps in Waghamon in Kerala and Halol near Vadodara and was instrumental in training the participants.
November 9: The Maharashtra ATS has arrested one more Malegaon blast accused, identified as Ramji, from the tribal-dominated Dangs District in Gujarat. Ramji was a volunteer in the Shabri temple and was alleged to have used Sadhvi Pragnya’s motorbike in Malegaon. He was reportedly connected with the Hindu Jagran Manch activist Swami Ashimananda.
November 1: Twenty eight SIMI cadres, who are accused of being involved in the July 26 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts, were remanded to Police custody till November 6 by Metropolitan Magistrate G. M. Patel. They included mastermind Mufti Abu Basher and SIMI leader Safdar Nagori.
October 23: The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested three persons on charges of involvement in the September 29 bomb blast in Malegaon in Maharashtra. They were identified as a sadhvi (female saint) Pragnya Singh Chandrapal Singh, Shiv Narayan Gopal Singh Kalsanghra, and Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu. While Pragnya Singh was arrested from Surat, the other two persons were arrested from unspecified places in Madhya Pradesh. They have been booked under various sections of the Indian Explosives Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
October 20: A terror suspect, Mohammad Ali, arrested in Madhya Pradesh and brought to Ahmedabad for questioning in connection with the serial blasts in the city, was sent in Police custody till October 23 by a Metropolitan court. Mohammad Ali was brought on transit warrant from Jabalpur jail in Madhya Pradesh by the City Crime Branch for his alleged involvement in the July 26 serial blasts. He is allegedly involved in the blast at the city civil hospital. According to Crime Branch officials, Ali was the key financier for the SIMI and used to bring money from outside India through Hawala channels. "Mohammad Ali was present in the SIMI camp held in Halol (near Vadodara). His name propped up during interrogation of those under our custody," Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP), Crime Branch, Ashish Bhatia, said, adding, "It is believed that he was involved in the conspiracy of conducting serial blasts in Ahmedabad and other places in the country. He was also the local financier for the SIMI activities."
October 8: A crude bomb exploded in the Hatikhana area of Vododara city without causing any loss of life or injuries. Police later recovered three more crude bombs and gun powder from the area. The bombs were later defused.
September 29: Two persons were killed and 16 others injured in a bomb blast in the minority-dominated Tuka Bazaar at Modasa town in Sabarkantha District. Earlier in the morning, 17 low-intensity crude bombs were recovered from the Kotnirang area at Kalupur in the old city of Ahmedabad. The bombs with shrapnel and other discarded materials were kept in small tins in a bucket, which was left in a dustbin.
September 15: Ahmedabad Police arrested two persons in connection with the July 26 serial blasts in the city. The arrested persons were identified as Ashok Kabira alias Umar Kabira who used to work as a sewage cleaner with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Salim Sipahi who is considered to be an explosives expert. Police stated that Kabira organised meetings of terror operatives at his Juhapura residence and participated in the serial blasts conspiracy. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Abhay Chudasama said the second accused Salim Sipahi "has been with the radical groups since he was 15 years old. He has undergone extensive training in bomb making. He knows how to manufacture various types of bombs. His role in Ahmedabad blasts is under the scanner."
September 4: Four suspected SIMI cadres were arrested in connection with the July 26 Ahmedabad bomb blasts from Ahmedabad and Bhuj towns. An Ahmedabad Police spokesman said that while Naved Kadri, Aiyyaz Sayed and Zaved Ahmed were arrested from Ahmedabad, Abbas Asmeja was arrested from Bhuj. The arrests took place following confessions made by the 10 main accused SIMI cadres. Aiyyaz was among those who had actually placed some of the bombs. Naved Kadri was present at the final planning meeting held in Juhapura. Zaved Ahmed had procured a gas cylinder from Kalupur area, which was used in the car bomb placed at the trauma centre in the civil hospital. Asmeja had secured a house, under a false name on behalf of the SIMI, under rehabilitation projects for the people hit by the 2001 Kutch earthquake. The house was sold recently to part-finance the blasts.
August 26: Gujarat Police arrested Tanveer Pathan alias Sameer, a suspected SIMI member, from the Mira road area in Mumbai for his alleged involvement in the planting of bombs in Surat. Police sources said Pathan's name was revealed during the interrogation of Sajid Mansuri, an accused arrested in connection with the Ahmedabad serial blasts case. An unidentified Police officer told, "Pathan was in touch with several SIMI activists in Pune and we passed on this information to the Gujarat Police. After Pathan's name emerged in the investigation, a team from the Gujarat Police arrived in Mumbai. With the help of the ATS, the Gujarat team caught Pathan."
August 20: Following information given by the arrested SIMI cadre Usman Agarbattiwala, the Ahmedabad Police recovered two pistols, a pipe bomb, balloons and 19 CDs and DVDs containing speeches of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders, laptops and hard drives from different places in the city. Usman was one of the 10 SIMI members arrested for their alleged involvement in the Ahmedabad serial blasts.
August 19: A team of the Gujarat Police arrested dentist Mohammed Salim Honali (31) from Bijapur in Karnataka. Honali used to work with the MA Rangoonwala College of Dental Sciences and Research Centre at the Azam Campus in Pune till May 2008 before he was laid off. ATS officials suspect that Honali not only had a significant role in the recent Ahmedabad blasts but was also brainwashing other youth to bring them into the radical fold.
August 17: Three persons were arrested in Bharuch for renting a house to the SIMI activist Sajid Mansuri, who allegedly played a key role in the July 26 Ahmedabad serial blasts. Mansuri had taken the house on rent from Saeed Hayat at Lukman society in Bharuch. Hayat had the power of attorney over the house that belonged to a London-based non-resident Indian. Two persons, Yusuf Patel and Maqbul Patel, had recommended the name of Sajid Mansuri to Saeed Hayat.
August 16: Gujarat Police announced the arrest of SIMI leader Abul Bashar Qasmi, who allegedly was the mastermind behind the July 26 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts. Director-General of Police P.C. Pandey said Qasmi was arrested from a village in Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh (UP) by a joint team of the UP and Gujarat Police. The Gujarat Police also said with this arrest they had unraveled the conspiracy that led to the bombings. Before Qasmi’s arrest, nine SIMI cadres were arrested from Ahmedabad and Vadodara. "We now have the entire details of how and where the plans for the Ahmedabad blasts were chalked out, who were the people involved and how the entire plan was operationalised," Pandey said. He also claimed that the same group was involved in planting bombs in Surat.
August 14: A SIMI cadre, identified as Mohammad Sajid Mansori, was arrested in Bharuch in connection with the serial blasts in Ahmedabad on July 26. Mansori is suspected to have been part of the conspiracy to carry out the nine blasts across the Gujarat capital.
August 3: A live bomb was found in the Atwalines area of Surat, taking the total number of explosive devices detected in the city to 24. The bomb was found inside a bag near a bus-stand adjacent to the municipal garden and was defused by the bomb disposal squad.
July 31: The Gujarat Police arrested four Bangladeshi nationals, including a woman, from the Gandhinagar area of capital Ahmedabad on suspicion of their involvement in the Ahmedabad bomb blasts. Sahel Sheikh, Rafiq Sheikh, Murad Malik and Khatimabibi Khalija were illegal immigrants and are suspected to have links with the Bangladesh-based HuJI-B.

With four wounded people, including two children, succumbing to their injuries the death toll in the Ahmedabad serial bombings reached 55.
July 30: Two more powerful live bombs were defused in Surat. While one live bomb was found near the Labheswar Police post, another bomb was found near the Surat Municipal Corporation-operated swimming pool. It was found hanging from a mango tree. Both the bombs were found in the same labour-dominated Varachha Road area where 10 bombs were detected on July 29.
July 29: The death toll in the serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad has risen to 53, said Government officials.
July 27: Police in Surat, the second major commercial centre in Gujarat after Ahmedabad, seized two abandoned cars - one with live explosives and another with ammunition - from different parts of the city. The cars were left abandoned at Punamgaon and Randel in the Varacha Road locality. Police said gelatine sticks, timers, ammonium nitrate powder, tiffin boxes and other material were found in one abandoned car which the locals said was lying there for a couple of days. The materials were reportedly enough to manufacture about eight to 10 powerful crude bombs, the kind of devices believed to have been used in the serial blasts. The Police also defused a huge bomb found in an abandoned bag near a hospital on the City Light Road.

Two live bombs were recovered from a garbage can near a vegetable market in the Hatkeshwar locality in Maninagar in Ahmedabad, where the first of the 17 blasts occurred on July 26-evening. Another live bomb was defused near a gate of a textile mill at Santhej on the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar highway after midnight. One bomb was found and defused in Kalol, also an industrial town near Gandhinagar.

The Joint Police Commissioner of Ahmedabad, Asish Bhatia, said a SIMI activist, Abdul Halim, who was wanted in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots, was arrested during the combing operation in the city.
July 26: 40 people were killed and more than 100 others injured when serial blasts struck different parts of Ahmedabad, the capital city of Gujarat. The worst attack occurred near the trauma centre of the Government civil hospital, where at least 25 people, including two doctors, were killed. Police indicated that there were 17 blasts in 10 different areas and all, except the minority-dominated Sarkhej and Juhapura, were in the labour-dominated eastern parts of the old city. Most of the blasts occurred in crowded and congested points like traffic circles, near a Hanuman temple where a large number of devotees turn out on Saturdays or near bus stops. The first blast was reported from the Hatkeshwar locality in the Maninagar area at 6.38 pm (IST). Thereafter bombs went off at 7 other places - Bapunagar, Narol, Ishanpur, Saraspur, Sarangpur, Raipur, Sarkhej, Juhaapura - all within the next five to seven minutes. About 40 minutes after the first round of blasts, bombs went off near the trauma centre of the civil hospital and the main portico of the L.G. General Hospital in Maninagar, even as the injured were being rushed to the hospitals. About an hour later, three more blasts were reported from Maninagar and surrounding areas. In a 14-page manifesto e-mailed to the media minutes before the serial bombings, an organisation calling itself the "Indian Mujahideen (IM)" claimed responsibility for the Ahmedabad attacks. Titled "The Rise of Jihad", the manifesto said the bombings were carried out to avenge the 2002 anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat.

2007

July 29: The Gujarat Police, probing the ISI-sponsored fake currency racket, arrested two more persons suspected to be involved in the incident. While Haneef Naviwala was arrested from Surat, Nazir Motiwala was detained at Ankleshwar. With this, the total number of arrests has gone up to 13.
July 17: The Kutch Police arrested a man in Vadodara in connection with the fake currency racket allegedly involving two ISI agents, which was neutralised last week.
July 16: The Kutch Police arrested three persons from Mumbai and one from Salaya village near Mandvi in connection with the fake currency racket allegedly involving two ISI agents, which was neutralised last week.
July 13: Gujarat Police reportedly neutralized an ISI module operating in the country to smuggle in fake currency, narcotics and arms and ammunition through the Mandvi port in the Kutch District. Six persons, including two Pakistani nationals, were arrested in this connection and they revealed that the module had already smuggled in INR 2.4 million in fake currency through Mandvi and sent it to Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh. The Pakistani nationals were identified as Abdul Gaffar Qasim Chiba and Abdul Khalif Tayyab Chauhan, both residents of Bhabhobhit area in Karachi. The Indians include Mumbai-based operative Sayyed Ahmed Ali and three other Mandvi-based fishermen, Abdullah Adam Dosani, Suleman Mohammad Chauhan and Ismail Yakub Chiba. The Kutch District Superintendent of Police, Gyanendra Singh Malik, said that the group used to receive the contraband in the mid-seas off the Mandvi coast.
May 27: A cleric in Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat, Tahir Maulana, was arrested and some arms and ammunition were seized from his house in the Juhapura area in connection with the May 18 Hyderabad blast. A raid was conducted at his house following a tip off from an unidentified person and also a verbal complaint by one of his wives who alleged he had kept arms and ammunition at home and was involved in 'jihadi' activities, said a senior crime branch official.
February 22: Police arrested two suspected agents of Pakistan's ISI from Bhuj. The District Superintendent of Police Gyanendrasinh Malik said Aslam and Syed Ali were arrested on the basis of information supplied by another ISI agent, Adil Anjuman, who was arrested in Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh, in December 2006.

Source: Compiled from English language media sources.