The Government Information Department said today that initial reports had suggested that the target of the bombings in the Mahabodhi Viharaya in Buddha Gaya was neither Buddhists nor Sri Lankan pilgrims.
Meanwhile The Hindu said that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was shocked and dismayed by the news of serial explosions in internationally renowned Mahabodhi temple in India, a place of religious significance for the Buddhists.
“President Rajapaksa was shocked and dismayed by the news,” Presidential Media Coordinator Wijayananda Herath said.
The official said the President had spoken to the chief incumbent of the Mahabodhi temple and also directed both the external affairs ministry and the High Commission in Delhi to probe and report to him The Hindu report said.
Nine serial explosions on Sunday rocked the temple town of Bodh Gaya in Bihar, including four in the Mahabodhi Temple complex, injuring two monks.
Full text of President Rajapaksa's message:
The terrorist attack carried out on the sacred Buddha Gaya premises is a grave insult to the entire peace loving world and to all humankind said President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Such brutal acts of terrorism that targets of places of religious worship and innocent worshippers is treated with the utmost contempt said President Rajapaksa, expressing his deep sorrow at the bomb attacks carried out at dawn today (7) at the Maha Bodhi Vihara complex at Bodhi Gaya, in India, one of the holiest shrines of Buddhism and a renowned centre of pilgrimage for Buddhists the world over.
I strongly condemn the carrying out of such brutal and harmful attacks on places of Buddhist worship, as well as places of worship and veneration of other religions, and on any other place, President Rajapaksa said.
Being profoundly saddened and dismayed on learning of these attacks at the Maha Bodhi Vihara President Rajapaksa expressed his deepest sorrow to the monks and devotees who were affected by it.
President Rajapaksa who spoke on telephone with the Chief Minister of Bihar Shri Nitish Kumar conveyed his sorrow at these attacks and inquired about the facilities for the devotees in the present situation.
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