Mosque Bombing: Kills, Injures Several in India
'Pakistan Times' Monitoring Desk

HYDERABAD DECCAN (India): A bomb tore through one of India’s oldest mosques on Friday, killing at least 13 people as thousands of worshippers attended prayers, police and reports said, while two more died in later protests.

Eleven people were killed when on the spot an improvised explosive device went off in the Makkah mosque in the southern Hyderabad city, police and the Press Trust of India said. Anti-riot police also appeared to have shot dead two people in violent protests following the attack, reports said.

At least 17 others received shrapnel injuries in the deafening blast, city administrator RV Chandravasan told AFP, while 32 protesters were hurt in subsequent clashes with the police in Muslim-majority Hyderabad.

While the situation at the mosque was quickly brought under control, Muslims later clashed with security forces in at least three parts of Hyderabad, said Mohammed Abdul Basit, police chief of Andhra Pradesh state, where Hyderabad is located.

Police fired live ammunition and tear gas to quell the riots, killing two people, he said. The bombing, which killed 11 people and wounded 35, and clashes raised fears of wider Hindu-Muslim violence in the city, long been plagued by communal tensions.

Authorities across India were told to be alert for any signs of Hindu-Muslim fighting, and top officials called for calm. Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemning the blast on Friday in Hyderabad mosque urged members of all communities to maintain peace and communal harmony.

They also conveyed condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for early recovery of the injured. YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, called the bombing an act of “intentional sabotage on the peace and tranquility in the country.”

Reddy told reporters in New Delhi, where he was meeting with federal officials on unrelated business, that one bomb went off around 1:30 pm (0800 GMT) and that police soon after found and defused two other bombs in the area of the mosque.

The bomb, made of a stick-grenade packed into a metal pipe, was detonated by a mobile phone attached to the device, said police chief Abdul Basit. “I was very close to the spot of the blast,” said Abdul Quader, 30, who sustained light injuries to his legs.

“As soon as prayers ended, we were about to get up. There was a huge, deafening blast sending bodies into the air,” he said, adding “People started running helter-skelter there was such confusion. People were bleeding, running around in a very bad condition.”

The independent NDTV news channel broadcast video taken inside the mosque as the blast went off. A loud noise is heard, and pieces of masonry can be seen flying through the air.

Worshippers many bent in prayer initially appeared bewildered by the explosion before rushing out of the historic structure as startled pigeons fluttered about inside the stone-and-marble mosque.

“I don’t have any doubts that this is an act of Hindu terrorists,” said Saleem Uddin, a 35-year-old businessman who lives near the Makkah mosque.

Recap

An earlier report had said that six persons were killed and more than 35 injured when a bomb exploded in historic Mecca mosque in Hyderabad this afternoon. The bomb exploded when thousands of Muslims assembled in the mosque to offer Friday prayers.

Official sources said the bomb was exploded around 1.30 p.m.

After the blast Muslims in the area staged strong protests. They came out in the streets and demonstrated against the perpetrators of this gory act.

The historic Mecca mosque is 400 years old and considered to be a central sacred place for Muslims of the entire Andhra Pradesh state and surrounding areas.

The Home Minister Shiv Raj Patel said the crude bomb was used in the incident.

It is recalled here that crude bombs were also used in Samjhota Express, Nanded and Jamia Mosque blasts last year.

According to an independent investigation report RSS was held responsible for Nanded blast. ●