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Hyderabad twin blasts kill
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Hyderabad, August 25 The first blast at Lumbini Park, a popular tourist attraction in the heart of the city on the banks of Hussian Sagar Lake, during a laser show, killed at least nine people. The second one a little later at Gokul Chat at Koti saw more than 32 persons dead, according to state home minister K. Jana Reddy. However, police commissioner Balvinder Singh said the toll might go up at Lumbini Park, where the bomb ripped through the middle rows of the auditorium. Around 500 persons were present at the park, when the explosion occurred at 7.35 pm. The second explosion occurred at Gokul Chat, a popular eatery in crowded Koti area. It was initially thought to be gas cylinder explosion but subsequently police came to suspect that some powerful explosive material like RDX might have been used. The impact of explosion was so powerful that the bodies were ripped apart and strewn all around. The injured were shifted to Osmania, Medicity and Gandhi hospitals. Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, after visiting Lumbini Park, said it was a terrorist attack and said the government was looking into the blasts. The police claimed to have detected live bombs in three other places in the city and defused them in time, averting what could have been a major tragedy. Several central leaders will be arriving here tomorrow including union home minister Shivraj Patil and BJP leader L.K. Advani.
HUJI activist Bilal key suspect New Delhi, August 25 They said the blasts were quite similar to that of Mecca mosque explosions in Hyderabad in May this year in which Bilal was suspected to be the mastermind. The sources said it is believed that the two blasts were triggered by a mobile phone. A similar modus operandi was followed in the Mecca mosque explosions. Bilal, who took over the command of HUJI on October 12, 2005, has been on the list of most wanted terrorists after he masterminded a suicide attack on the Special Task Force's headquarters in Hyderabad that left one police personnel dead. The sources said that some of the sleeper cells of Jaish-e-Mohammed could also have been used by the HUJI. Bilal is believed to be in Karachi. The CBI has already procured a red-corner notice from Interpol against Bilal. Meanwhile, President Pratibha Patil, Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tonight condemned the Hyderabad blasts and expressed shock over the loss of innocent lives. Also, security was beefed up across the country in the wake of the bomb blasts with special vigil on shrines, public places and communally sensitive areas. A general alert was sounded across Delhi and police asked to vigorously conduct checks of vehicles. Security in Karnataka was also beefed up. In Tamil Nadu, special vigil has been kept at busy places, state director general of police D. Mukherjee said.
— PTI |
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