Serial Blasts in Bodh Gaya Temple,Bihar,India Sunday July 7,2013

The Bodh Gaya temple complex in Bihar was rocked by a series of explosions on July 7,2013 Sunday morning. Over a hundred worshippers had just finished 30 minutes of chanting and a few were entering the temple complex.

The first blast occurred at 5:45 a.m. Nine explosions followed in the next hour — four at temple sites and five in a 500-meter radius. 

According to DSP Narendra Kumar, there were 20 policemen and 38 guards of the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee posted at the main temple on Saturday. “The southern wall of the temple complex is low and they may have used this wall to climb into the main complex between 3:30-4 a.m.,”

The police cordoned off the area as senior officials and politicians began arriving from Gaya, 12 kms away, and from Patna

“The area will remain cordoned off till the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team examines the area,” said Director General of Police Bihar Abhayanand

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reached Bodh Gaya from Patna at 10:45 am in the morning and visited the temple complex as well as the injured being treated in Gaya. “This is very unfortunate. We have requested the central government for the Central Industrial Security Force to be deployed as well as for help from the NIA in investigations,” he said