News Report

TV Channel                         : NHK World

Time to watch                   : October 27, 2013

Announcer                         : James Tengan

 

Bomb blasts kill 5 at Indian opposition rally

                A series of bomb blasts near an opposition party rally killed 5 people in India on Sunday.

                The Indian home affairs ministry said 6 homemade bombs went off in about 3 hours in Patna, the capital of the eastern state of Bihar.  Tens of thousands of people had gathered there for a rally of the largest opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.  The party's candidate for Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, was expected to give a speech as part of preparations for the lower house election that will be held after its term ends in May next year.  Hospital personnel say 5 people were killed and 28 were injured.

                Modi is chief minister of the western state of Gujarat. Despite his popularity among Indian voters, he is also known as a hardline Hindu nationalist. He has been criticized for the anti-Muslim violence in 2002 in which thousands of people were killed.