The bombing of the Jedi Temple hangar occurred late in the Clone Wars. Jedi Knight Barriss Offee—having become disgruntled with the fact that the Jedi Order, traditionally guardians of peace, were leading the Galactic Republic's war against the Confederacy of Independent Systems—carried out the bombing. The attack killed six Jedi Knights, a number of clone troopers, and members of the Jedi Temple's maintenance crew. A number of suspects were considered before the evidence implicated Ahsoka Tano, Padawan of General Anakin Skywalker, who was tried for murder and treason. Skywalker later discovered that it was Offee who carried out the attack, vindicating his Padawan.
Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker were recalled from the front to investigate the bombing of the Jedi Temple.
As the Clone Wars continued throughout the galaxy, many citizens of the Galactic Republic started to disagree with the ways of the Jedi, and no longer viewed them as peacekeepers due to their new role as generals leading the fight against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Jedi Knight Barriss Offee, former Padawan to Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, grew to harbor similar views—ultimately believing that both the Jedi and the Republic had lost their way. As a result of this mindset, she sought to make a statement against the Jedi by detonating a bomb within the Jedi Temple. Enlisting the help of citizen Letta Turmond, a radical anti-war activist, Offee gave Turmond NM-K reconstitutor nano-droids to feed to her husband, Jackar Bowmani, turning Bowmani into a living bomb. Bowmani was a munitions expert in the Jedi Temple, giving Turmond and Offee direct access to the temple hangar.
Tano and Skywalker investigated the crime scene at the behest of the Jedi Council.
Jackar Bowmani was working in the Jedi Temple hangar when the nano-droids within him detonated, killing Bowmani and multiple bystanders. The casualties who died as a result of the explosion were six Jedi, including Jedi Knight Tutso Mara, as well as several clone troopers and maintenance workers. In addition to the fatalities, several workers were injured by the attack and subsequently taken to the temple's medical facility.
As rumors began to spread of possible Jedi involvement in the attack, Grand Master Yoda recalled General Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano from their defense on Cato Neimoidia. Upon their return to Coruscant, the Jedi Council assigned Skywalker and Tano the task of discovering the culprit behind the attack. As neither of them were present in the temple at the time of the bombing, Yoda believed that they could be trusted to lead the investigation.
The droid Russo-ISC assisted Skywalker and Tano in analyzing the crime scene and collecting eyewitness accounts.
Skywalker and Tano were partnered with Russo-ISC, a crime scene analysis droid, to investigate the crime, and Tano and Russo began to interview the witnesses. During these interviews, Tano and Russo learned about potential suspect Jackar Bowmani, who went missing after the bombing. After informing Skywalker about the suspect, Skywalker found Letta Turmond in a protest that was occurring outside the Temple and brought her in for questioning. She claimed that Bowmani could not have been involved, but after further investigation nano-droids were discovered at the site of the bomb and later in Bowmani's bloodstream, allowing the Jedi to believe that Bowmani himself was the bomb. Skywalker and Tano went to Bowmani and Turmond's house to further investigate, and found traces of nano-droids in the food, confirming their suspicions. The Jedi were interrupted by Turmond, who ran when asked to come in for further questioning. Once captured, Turmond was arrested for the bombing of the Jedi Temple and sent to prison. With Turmond locked away, any suspicions that a Jedi could have been involved were lost.
Tano became a suspect in the bombing of the Jedi Temple as a result of being captured in a warehouse filled with nano-droids.
Shortly after the funeral ceremony for the Jedi victims of the attack, Offee killed her co-conspirator and framed Tano for the deed. Tano escaped from Republic custody in the hope of proving her innocence, but was consequently hunted as a fugitive by the Jedi and Republic Military. Following her capture, Tano was expelled from the Order and subsequently placed on trial for murder and treason. Although the charges were dismissed after Skywalker apprehended Offee and forced her to make a full confession, Tano declined the Council's offer of reinstatement and chose to seek a new path instead. Unduli was shocked by Offee's actions and tried to find comfort in her wartime service, working to repair the Wookiee city Kachirho from Separatists attacks and prepare it for a coming Separatist invasion. She spent months at work and came to understand Kachirho's terrain in that time.