Two blasts tore through the Indian city of Hyderabad late Saturday, killing at least 38 people and injuring 60 in what officials said they suspected was a terror attack. One explosion rocked a packed auditorium where a laser show was under way in an amusement park jammed with weekend crowds, while another blast ripped through a street eatery minutes later.
"We now have at least 36 people killed and 60 people injured," Balwinder Singh, Hyderabad police chief, told AFP. At least 15 of the injured were in serious condition, officials said. Federal Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said the explosions in the city, which has a large Muslim population and is considered communally sensitive, were the handiwork of "some terrorist group."
"One terrorist group or the other, which is bent on destroying the unity of the country, is certainly involved in the blasts in Hyderabad," Jaiswal said. About 40 percent of Hyderabad's 6.5 million population is Muslim. Saturday's explosions came three months after 11 people were killed in a bombing at the city's famed 17th-century Mecca Mosque. Police have still not named any group or individual as suspects for the mosque blasts.
Ten days ago, when India was celebrating the 60th anniversary on August 15 of its independence, authorities stepped up security across the country after new threats by al Qaeda and separatist rebels. Police chiefs said then that, while there was nothing specific, they were taking the terror threat very seriously.
The Hyderabad city administrator said Saturday that police "already have some leads" but did not elaborate.
The Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy called on "everyone to be calm." "Bomb blasts are the cruelest acts against humanity. The perpetrators of such an act could have no religion, ideological or national identity. They at best could be described as traitors of humanity," said Reddy.
Dismembered limbs, clothes and shoes of people watching the laser show in Lumbini Park lay scattered on the ground and there were pools of blood where victims had fallen.
"People were running away, some who were hurt had blood streaming from their bodies," a private security guard said. Injured people were rushed to hospital in three-wheel scooters and cars. The chief minister said about 500 people were in the auditorium at the time of the explosion.
The federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil said he would visit Hyderabad on Sunday. Explosive experts visited the blast sites to collect samples of materials used while police evacuated the areas where the explosions occurred. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts and expressed his deep concern. India has suffered a series of recent terrorist attacks.
In July 2006, seven bomb blasts ripped through financial hub Mumbai's rail network killing some 186 people. "We're seeing a pattern of attacks every two to three months somewhere or other in the country on soft targets," said Ajai Sahni, head of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management. "They appear to be linked to what we call Pakistan-backed Islamic terrorist groups," he said.
The Mumbai attack was blamed on militants seeking to upset a slow-moving peace process between India and Pakistan and provoke Hindu-Muslim violence. India has frequently accused Islamic militant groups fighting its rule in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir of being behind attacks.