A loud bang and the next moment three cars went up in flames and a bike blown to smithereens, recounted witnesses to a terror strike outside the Bharatiya Janata Party office in Bangalore buzzing with activity ahead of the May 5 Assembly polls.

"All of us were sitting in a police van in front of which the cars and a motorbike were parked. I heard a deafening sound and when I opened my eyes I saw all the three vehicles in flames and the bike blown to smithereens," 50-year-old Meerannavar told PTI.

"Our van was fully damaged, the glass panes shattered, with splinters hitting us. The impact of the blast was so much that the seats sprang up and I almost hit the roof. I cannot hear through my left ear now," said the policeman, undergoing treatment at the hospital.