Ajmer, October 11
At least two pilgrims were killed and nine others, including a child, injured in a terror attack when a crude bomb went off at the sufi shrine of Khawaja Moinuddhin Chishti where thousands of devotees gathered to break the day-long Ramzan fast today.
Two persons, including 45-year-old Mohammad Sohaib from Mumbai, died on the spot and nine others were injured in the blast near Aasthan-e-Noor opposite Begum Ki Dhalan when people had gathered there for iftaar, Deepak Upreti, divisional
commissioner of Ajmer, told PTI.
The crude bomb, planted near a tree at Aasthan-e-Noor, went off a minute after the fasting period ended at 6.16 pm, he said.
Union home ministry sources in Delhi said it was a terror strike in which militants had used a low-intensity improvised explosive device.
They said the terror outfits, including Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba, were against sufi Islam and they could be prime suspects behind the blast, which came barely 10 days ahead of the meeting of the Indo-Pakistan anti-terror mechanism here on October 22.
CRPF battalions based in Ajmer had been kept in readiness for deployment at the shrine. Rajasthan’s principal secretary (Home) V.S. Singh said in Jaipur that two persons were killed and 12 others were injured in the blast.
Of the injured, the condition of one was critical in a hospital, V.V. Singh said. One person was discharged after first aid.
It was a very low-intensity blast and a team of forensic science experts had reached the blast site, he said. Entry into the dargah had been restricted and people were being screened, he said.
— PTI
