Pune bomb was kept in backpack: Chidambaram (Second Lead)

PUNE - A powerful bomb that ripped through a popular bakery here killing nine people was apparently left in a backpack, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Sunday.

After an early morning visit, Chidambaram told reporters that the terrorist who brought the bomb to the German bakery Saturday evening may have posed as a customer.

“The bomb was apparently planted in a backpack and left there. The person apparently came there as a customer, unlike the usual gun-wielding terror attacks,” he said.

The deafening blast also injured nearly 60 people, some of them critically.

Chidambaram said despite the presence of security in the sensitive zone, comrpising a Jewish worship house and the Osho Ashram, the German bakery became a “soft target”.

Unless these soft targets also adopt strict security measures, it would be difficult to detect things, he said.

He said whether the German bakery had put in place any such measures would be probed.

It was the worst terror attack in India after November 2008 when a group of Pakistani terrorists went on a killing spree in Mumbai leaving 166 Indians and foreigners dead.