Pune/Mumbai/New Delhi, Feb. 13: A powerful blast ripped through Pune’s famous German Bakery — a stone’s throw away from the Osho Commune on the city’s North Main Road — killing nine people and injuring more than 43. The police said that among the

dead were three foreign nationals, though the police said this prognosis was based on physical appearances of the bodies rather than any proof of identity.

Special secretary in the Union home ministry, Mr U.K. Bansal, said a foreigner is among those killed in the blast. When asked whether the blast would have any impact on the proposed Indo-Pak foreign secretary level talks beginning February 25, Union home secretary G.K. Pillai evaded the issue.

The blast, which took place at around 7 pm, blew the roof of the outer section of the bakery. The bakery is extremely crowded on Saturdays and the intensity of the blast left the green metal skeleton of the construction at the entrance to the structure exposed.

The attack comes within a year of US-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terror suspect David Coleman Headley’s visit to the Osho ashram.

The home secretary said that the Maharashtra government had been alerted by the home ministry, which sent an advisory to the state detailing Headley’s visit to Osho ashram. The MHA has issued an advisory to all states to remain on high alert and cautioning people not to touch or open any unidentified object or baggage and report it to the nearest police station. A forensic team of the CBI was being airlifted from Delhi and a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was also being rushed.

A team of the National Security Guard’s bomb unit and Pune police officers, along with fire brigade personnel, were at the scene, carrying out forensic examinations and search operations. "It appears to be the handiwork of terrorists. Investigations are on and I am confident that our police team will soon unearth the conspiracy," Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan told this newspaper.

The injured were rushed to Budhrani Hospital, Sassoon, Ruby and Jehangir Hospitals where the condition of some is said to be critical. A doctor at Sassoon Hospital said that six people were brought in dead among whom the youngest was an 18-year-old while the eldest was 61 years old. Another 18 people were brought in injured. Three foreign nationals among them left the hospital against medical advice despite the condition of two being very serious, the doctor said.

The Jewish centre is just 50 metres away from the spot of the blast and so is Hotel Surya Villa where Headley, alias Daood Gilani, stayed in 2006. Senior police officers, including Pune police commissioner Satyapal Singh, were at the scene. No one has been detained so far and the intensity and ingredients of the explosives will be known only after forensic tests, the commissioner said.

An eyewitness, Yogesh Pingle, said that the intensity of the blast was such that the sound could be hundreds of metres away and bloodstains and bits of burnt flesh were scattered across the busy street.

In Delhi, home secretary Pillai said that the explosion occurred after a waiter noticed an "unattended packet" and attempted to open it. He said that home minister P. Chidambaram is closely monitoring the situation from Tamil Nadu, where he is at present.

While the investigation into the Headley case revealed terror plots targeting Jewish centres in five cities, the Indian agencies are looking into the possibility of the involvement of the "Karachi project", consisting of top leadership of the Indian Mujahideen, behind the attack.

The NIA, which is probing Headley’s involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attack, is also on the lookout for sleeper cells of the LeT visited by Headley which could be plotting fresh strikes in the country.

Sources revealed that Headley had shared the details of the Karachi project with FBI sleuths following his arrest in the US. He told the FBI that Indian nationals are being trained for terror activities both by the ISI and the LeT. Once trained, they are sent back to India for "terror projects" from time to time, the sources said. The Indian Mujahideen, whose top leadership consisting of the Bhatkal brothers Iqbal and Riyaz, had set up base in Pune, had also used Pune-based Mohammed Mansoor Asgar Peerbhoy to send terror emails following the Ahmedabad and Delhi serial blasts in 2008.

Headley’s last visit to India before being arrested by the FBI was in March last year to finalise synchronised terror strikes on Jewish houses located in five cities.

Pratik Salunke, Priya Prabhakaran and Namrata Biji Ahuja