Wild speculation over possible motivations for Thursday’s bomb blast at a popular Indian restaurant in Mississauga has exacerbated tensions within local South Asian communities.

As police continued their manhunt Saturday for two suspects behind the audacious late-night attack, which injured 15 people at a Bombay Bhel restaurant, media and online commenters suggested a multiplicity of causes, from white supremacy to Islamic terror to Sikh nationalism.

Such speculation prompted the Ontario Gurdwaras Committee (OGC), a major Sikh organization, to take the unusual step of condemning both the attack itself and the rumours that followed — some of which it claims have been spread by “foreign media outlets,” in particular Indian media.

“Upon further investigation, we can verify that Indian media outlets have engaged in the spread of misinformation regarding this tragedy,” the committee said.

The written statement, co-signed by OGC spokesperson Amarjit Singh Mann and OGC member Bhagat Singh Brar, signals distrust within the Sikh community of Indian officials in Canada. It criticizes the Indian Consulate of Toronto for overstepping its diplomatic reach by establishing a hotline to gather information on the bombing.

People with possible information on the case should be contacting Peel police, the committee said, not the Indian Consulate. It called upon Indian officials “to stay within their diplomatic parameters when operating in Canada and to immediately end their continued interference in Canadian domestic matters.”

Read more:

What we know and don’t know about the Mississauga bombing

A spokesperson for the Indian Consulate of Toronto declined to comment on the Sikh statement.

One official with the Gurdwaras Committee, speaking to the Star on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized as an official spokesperson, said the statement reflected “deep — and unwarranted — anxiety within the community.”

“If it were quote-unquote ‘trolls’ pointing fingers it wouldn’t bother us so much,” the source said. “The fact that an actual news broadcast in India, within minutes of the attack, pointed to Sikhs as possibly being involved sent us into panic mode,” the official said.

“There is obviously pre-existing tension. Many Sikhs in Canada feel they were dragged through the mud for two months after Prime Minister Trudeau’s India trip, in part because of an Indian media narrative that too many Canadian media seemed to have just copied-and-pasted, without realizing the media in India is mostly controlled by government parties.”

Rattan Mall, editor of the Indo-Canadian Voice, a leading forum for South Asian news in Canada, said the Sikh statement reflects ongoing tension within what is a “pretty divided community at the moment.” But he cautioned that there is nothing to suggest any link between that tension and the attack in Mississauga.

“Everyone needs to cool the baseless speculation and let the police do their job. It could be anything at this point,” said Mall. “Once they determine what this really was, then you can start pointing all the fingers you’ve got.”

Officials shed no new light Saturday on what prompted two masked men to ignite an improvised explosive device aimed at some 40 diners inside Bombay Bhel, a popular eatery on Hurontario St. near Eglinton Ave.

Peel police say there is no indication it was a hate crime or an act of terror, but nothing has been ruled out as the investigation proceeds. They confirmed “multiple agencies” are assisting in the probe and they vowed to collar the two suspects, who were captured on security video entering the restaurant, their faces obscured by hoodies and caps.

“We’re going to get these guys. They’re not going to get away with it,” said Const. Bally Saini, a Peel police spokesperson. She appealed for the public to be patient, decrying the rush to judgment.

“Our investigators are taking the time they need to comb through everything — and they are doing it with all the help they need from other agencies, including the RCMP,” Saini said.

Thursday night’s blast triggered international headlines focusing on the GTA as a site of attack, barely a month after 10 people were murdered in a van rampage on Yonge St. in North York.

Unlike April’s deadly attack, Thursday’s blast saw all 15 victims, who ranged in age from 23 to 69, released from hospital within a day, including three who had been critically injured — a 35-year-old Brampton man and two Mississauga women, 62 and 48.

It was a rare, non-lethal outcome for bombings that attract international attention.

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“That is the one nice thing about this — everyone is out of hospital already,” Saini said. “That and the fact that while children were in attendance at the restaurant, none of the children were injured.”

Victims have yet to be officially identified, but details continue to emerge about the chaotic moments as two separate birthday parties were interrupted by the bomb blast.

One woman told reporters how a group of revellers, feting a woman who had just arrived from India that day, initially thought the bomb was a birthday cake with lit candles that had somehow gone awry. They hadn’t noticed the attackers enter the restaurant because their backs were to the door.

“They literally got up to cut the birthday cake, and she had the candles lit and she was about to blow them out and there was a huge bomb sound … They were laughing about it, being like, ‘Oh my God, that was like some birthday cake!’”

They quickly realized it was something far more serious, the woman said, in an interview broadcast on the Tag TV news channel and other outlets.

“Some people had fallen on the floor. People hadn’t realized how badly injured they were, but the bomb was right behind them. The person whose birthday it was was probably the least injured because she had rows of people behind her … They’ve been injured very badly on the back of their legs, everyone.”

A sense of normalcy was returning to the stricken Mississauga neighbourhood Saturday afternoon, with most of the plaza housing the still-shuttered restaurant and other nearby shops open for business. A large section of the parking lot remained cordoned off and forensic investigators could be seen working behind the restaurant.

Frank Sgro works at Sleep Country two doors away from Bombay Bhel. He’d closed up shop at 9:30 p.m. Thursday and didn’t notice anything unusual as he left through the back door. Saturday was the first day his store had reopened following the bombing.

“Yesterday everything was shut down,” Sgro said. He noted the store was quieter than usual Saturday afternoon.

“When I drove up I wasn’t even sure if we (had) access to our store,” Sgro said. “There’s been a couple people in, but most of them have been trying to get to Service Ontario.”

Service Ontario is the only store in the bustling strip mall that has not reopened its doors following Thursday’s incident.

Kim Rule, who owns a Pet Valu store opposite Bombay Bhel, said business was quieter than a typical Saturday. But one thing all of her customers had in common was curiosity.

“We’ve been steady, but it’s quieter today for sure,” Rule said. “Everyone that comes in asks (what happened).”