Bodh Gaya Bombings

On 7 July 2013 a series of ten bombs exploded in and around the Mahabodhi Temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Bodh Gaya, India. Five people, including two Buddhist monks, were injured by the blasts. Three other devices were defused by bomb-disposal squads at a number of locations in Gaya.

The temple itself and the Bodhi Tree (where Gautama Buddha had attained enlightenment) were undamaged. However, the Archaeological Survey of India confirmed damage to new structures in the temple complex. International figures, including the Dalai Lama, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Myanmar Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, condemned the attacks. On 4 November 2013, the National Investigation Agency announced that the Islamic terrorist group Indian Mujahideen was responsible for the bombings.

A National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court found all five of the accused Indian Mujahideen terrorists, Imtiyaz Ansari, Mujib Ullah, Omair Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi, guilty of carrying out the attacks and sentenced them to life imprisonment under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Explosives Act. Another minor was sentenced for three years at a remand home by a juvenile court in 2017.

Another IED bombing was carried out on January 19, 2018 at the Mahabodhi Temple when the Dalai Lama along with several Buddhist pilgrims was camping in the town to participate in the month-long Kalachakra prayer; no one was apparently hurt in the attack. For the 2018 bombings on 1 June 2018, a special NIA court of Patna sentenced to 3 of the 8 accused to life imprisonment and the other 5 to ten years in prison. All of them were members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh.

In both the 2013 and 2018 bombings the terrorists stated their motive was targeting Buddhist sites to avenge the Rohingya genocide in neighbouring Myanmar, a Buddhist majority country.

Bombings

The Mahabodhi Mahavihara is an important temple for Buddhists worldwide. The bombs exploded between 05:30 and 06:00 IST (00:30–01:00 UTC), concurrently with the Sutta chanting and meditation which begin the daily routine of the ''mahavihara''.

Four of the blasts occurred within the Mahabodhi Temple complex:
*The first bomb exploded at 5:30 IST, during prayers in the temple sanctuary.
*About two minutes later a bomb exploded on the east side of the complex, at the Animesh Lochna Temple. Wooden bookshelves, stacked with Buddhist scriptures, were damaged by this blast.
*A third bomb exploded on the south side of the complex, at the Butter Lamp House. This blast damaged the Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC) ambulance parked there.
*A fourth bomb exploded on the north side of the complex, inside a small shrine; however, an image of the Buddha in the shrine was unaffected by the blast.

Five other blasts occurred in Bodh Gaya, within a 500-metre radius of the Mahabodhi Temple complex:
*A small bomb exploded at an statue of the Buddha.
*Three bombs exploded at the Tergar (Tibetan) Monastery. One bomb was placed behind the door of a classroom where children study Buddhism. The windows and classroom doors were damaged; there were no injuries, since the children were on holiday.
*One bomb exploded on a bus parked at the Sujata bypass.

Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on 8 July that there were ten blasts, not nine as earlier reported; it was unclear where the tenth bomb detonated. Despite the blasts, BTMC monks opened the main sanctuary of the temple for routine prayer and rituals.

Bomb-disposal squads defused three more bombs, which did not explode because the analog timers in them failed. A cylinder bomb at the Tergar monastery, another bomb near the 80-foot statue of the Buddha, and a third bomb was found during the afternoon, near the Royal Residence Hotel in the village of Baiju Bigaha. The bomb-detection team separated the detonator from the power source to defuse these bombs:

Three pamphlets, handwritten in Urdu