Mahabodhi temple whoddunit?:

SRI LANKAN GOVT. WANTS INQUIRY

*No Sri Lankans injured

*Two more bombs defused inside the complex

Ridma Dissanayake

No Sri Lankans were injured in the series of blasts at the Mahabodhi temple in Bihar’s Bodhgaya area last morning, External Affairs Ministry Secretary Karunathilake Amunugama said.

He said President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered Sri Lankan High Commissioner to New Delhi Prasad Kariyawasam to submit an immediate report about the incident.

The Sri Lankan government also called for an inquiry into this incident, Amunugama said.

Indian media reported that a series of blasts were reported in the Mahabodhi temple. Reports said no damage to the temple or shrine was reported.

Five persons including a Tibetan Buddhist monk and a Burmese national who were injured were admitted to hospital, Karunathilake said.

The site in Bihar state houses the tree under which the Buddha reached enlightenment in 531 BC.

“The holy Bodhi tree is safe and there is no damage to it,” Bihar Police chief Abhayanand told AFP.

Senior police official S.K. Bharadwaj said: “Eight low-intensity serial blasts took place injuring two people”.

Two more bombs were found and defused inside the complex, one of them near the temple’s 80-feet-tall statue of the Buddha, Bharadwaj told AFP.

Additional Scurity Forces have been deployed to guard the temple complex after the blasts, which wounded two monks, a 50-year-old Tibetan and a 30-year-old Burmese, Bharadwaj added.

Eyewitness and former local legislator Sarbajeet Kumar said he was on his daily morning walk to the temple when the bombs exploded.

“Suddenly I saw smoke and heard the sound of the blasts. I realised that something bad had happened and ran for shelter,” he told local reporters.

Police said they were investigating the explosions.

The Bodh Gaya complex, 110 kilometres south of the state capital Patna, is one of the earliest Buddhist temples still standing in India and was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002.

It houses the holy Bodhi tree as well as the Mahabodhi statue of Buddha, and multiple shrines. The complex attracts visitors from around the world during the peak tourist season from October to March.