Top 10 Deadliest Terrorist Attacks in India That Shocked the Nation

Terrorist attacks have shaken the entire world and the planet has been facing the aftermath ofall of these attacks. Amongst the several countries where attacks are reported every now and then, India has become one of the countries that has been the centre of the terror attacks in recent times.

Terrorism has been a major topic of debate in India today and the government officials always try their best to stop these attacks. From the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai to the Samjhauta Express Bomb Blast, and the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, let us see the list of top 10 deadliest terror attacks that took the nation by storm.

10. Samjhauta Express Bomb Blast:

One of the major terrorist attacks that shocked the nation at the starting of the year 2007, was the Samjhauta Express bomb blast. Samjhauta express runs two times in a week and is known to connect the two cities of Delhi in India and Lahore in Pakistan.  The bombs were kept in two carriages of the train and the sound of the bombings were heard at around midnight. The blasts which occurred as the train was passing through the city of Panipat took the lives of around 70 people, including citizens from both India and Pakistan. This was one of the major attacks that shocked both the nations of India and Pakistan and was also condemned by the officials of both affected countries.

9. 2008 Delhi Serial Bomb Blast:

This was another major terrorist attack that shocked the entire nation. In 2008, 5 series of blasts were reported to take place in the capital city of New Delhi on the 13^th of September. The blasts killed a number of innocent civilians. These blasts took place in a span of just a few minutes. theblasts were known to take place at the heart of some of the most visited market places in Delhi which included the Ghaffar market, two explosions were thereafter known to take place at Connaught place, post that there were two other explosions that were heard at the M-block market of the region known as Greater Kailash. In fact. The terrorists had planned for nine bomb attacks. Four were however defused and were placed at India Gate, Regal cinema, Parliament street, as well as at the heart of Connaught place

8. 2008 Bangalore Serial Bomb Blast:

Another bomb blast that shook the country also took place in the year 2008. This was one of those blasts that again was a series of bomb blasts in succession. This time, it was the capital city of the Indian state of Karnataka.As per the police who were investigating the case, the bombs used were of low trigger and timers were used to give effect to these blasts. The blasts were reported in areas of Madiwala, Adugodi, Mallya hospital, Nayandahalli, Langford road, Richmond circle. Although the bombs were of low intensity, it did cause a few civilian casualties while also leaving a number of citizens injured. The bombings took place on the 25^th day of July in the year 2008 and it etched in the memory of the citizens of Bangalore and the country as a whole even till date.

7. Akshardham Temple Attack:

One of the major terrorist attacks that shook the world was the attack on the Akshardham temple that took place on the 24^th of September 2002 in the Indian state of Gujarat. There were two terrorist attackers who sieged the temple and caused havoc in the ensuing area. The attackers were known to use hand grenades as well as various other automatic weapons which were used to cause a lot of casualties as well as serial injuries. The attackers came in a white car and surpassed the security screening, post which they entered the temple complex and started firing guns and throwing weapons. It took the Gujarat police a full day to stop this rampage.

6. The 2008 Assam Bombings:

Another Indian terrorist attack that is known to have shocked the world happened in the Indian state of Assam on the 30^th day of October 2008. In the capital city of Guwahati, as many as 18 bomb blasts were known to occur and the incident took a lot of lives while also causing injury to a lot of civilians. Some of the major areas that were targeted this time included the Kokrajhar, the Barpeta road, Bongaigaon, and other areas of the city. It was suspected to having carried out by the National Democratic Front of Bodoland. However, no conclusion was reached as to who was mainly responsible for this particular attack which literally shook not only Assam but the entire nation.

5. Coimbatore Bombings:

Another attack by the terrorists in India that will go down in the history of the country as one of the worst attacks faced by the Indian civilians and authorities, would be the one that occurred in the South India state of Coimbatore, that occurred on the 14^th day of February in the year 1998.The explosives were made to explode with the help of timers and gelatin was used for the purpose. The explosives were carried in motorcycles, carts, cars, two-wheelers, amongst others. In fact, it was later reported that the bombings had taken place to target L.K Advani who had a meeting in Coimbatore around that time. The Coimbatore bombings were a series of 12 bomb blasts that were carried out in important locations at the heart of the city.

4. 1993 Mumbai Serial Bomb Blasts:

On the 12 of March 1993, the entire nation was shocked when a series of 12 bomb blasts occurred in some of the major areas of the financial capital of India. Areas affected included important landmarks such as the stock exchange, Air India building, the Plaza Theatre, Hotel Sea Rock, Hotel Airport Centaur, and others. The main master mind behind these Mumbai attacks were Dawood Ibrahim and his counterparts in the neighbouring country of Pakistan. The blasts were known to cause as many as 257 casualties while also causing injury to 717 people in total.

3. 2001 Parliament Attack:

Another attack that shook India and the world across was the one that attacked the Indian Parliament in the year 2001. The security was breached by using fake identities by the terrorists. After reaching near the convoy of India’s Vice-President, there was a storm of fire guns that was taking place, killing security personnel, a gardener, as well as personnel from the Delhi police. The entire exchange of fires between the Delhi police and the terrorists took place for several hours, saving the life’s of key political figures of the country including L.K Advani as well as Harin Pathak who was the minister of state of defence at that time.The main accused for the attack on the parliament were five terrorists. They belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

2. Bombay Train Blast:

We all know that the Mumbai local is the main mode of transportation of the city and each day you will find hundreds and thousands of local citizens traveling through the local train. Imagine a bomb being planted on Mumbai’s locals! On July 11, 2006, Mumbai citizens witnessed a series of seven blasts in the trains over a period of just 11 minutes. The main target areas included Matunga road, Mahim area, Borivali, Jogeshwari, Bhayandar, Bandra, and Khar road. These areas are some of the most populated areas of the city. The blasts were known to take a number of innocent human lives while causing several other injuries as well.The terrorist group which was known to be the mastermind behind the attack was the Indian Mujahideen group.

1. 26/11 Mumbai Attacks 2008:

The one attack which will petrify you even when you think of it even today is certainly the 26/11 Mumbai Attacks. This was one of its kind that the nation has ever witnessed when 10 terrorists entered the Indian financial capital to go on a killing spree. The attacks lasted for almost 3 to 4 days and began on the 26^th day of November and ended on 29^th November only. The main areas which were targeted includes the Nariman point, the Taj, Hotel Oberoi Trident, Leopold Café, Metro Cinema, Cama Hospital, and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, killing hundreds of people and leaving several others injured. This was one of the attacks which really made India as a whole to question its security and safety. Out of the 10 terrorists, nine were killed by the police while one by the name of Ajmal Kasab was arrested and later hanged until death. Hafiz Saeed was known to have been the mastermind behind this horrendous attack.

Thus, the above is the list of some of the most dangerous attacks by the terrorists that were witnessed by the Indian citizens and the authorities. These blasts and attacks not only shook India but also had a great impact on the entire world.