The Hindu : Front Page : 31 killed, 100 injured in Malegaon blasts

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Saturday, Sep 09, 2006

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31 killed, 100 injured in Malegaon blasts

Mumbai Bureau

People gathered for Friday prayers targeted; situation in city tense; red alert in Maharashtra

OUTRAGE IN MALEGAON: People rushing out after a bomb went off near a mosque in Malegaon on Friday in this television footage. At right, a blast victim being rushed to hospital. - PHOTOS: PTI

MUMBAI: Thirty-one people were killed and over 100 injured in two bomb blasts in Malegaon in Nashik district of Maharashtra on Friday.

The explosions, which occurred in the heart of the old city, triggered tension and fears of a communal conflagration.

The blasts occurred around 1.50 p.m., when people had gathered for Friday prayers and to offer special prayers on the occasion of Shab-e-Barat. The two explosions happened in quick succession at the Bada Kabristan and at Mushaira Chowk, about one km away. This led to a stampede as people rushed out of the Kabristan. Many of those killed and injured were children.

Shoes and bicycles litter a street outside a mosque in Malegaon on Friday, after the bomb blasts. - AFP

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh clarified that the blasts took place in the kabristan (graveyard) and not in the mosque. Hundreds of people had gathered at the kabristan on the occasion of Shab-e-Barat when they offer special prayers and read the `namaz' through the night as they remember the dead.

The Government declared a red alert in the entire State and rushed Special Forces to the powerloom town. Curfew was declared and people were asked to stay indoors. Director-General of Police P.S. Pasricha said the situation in the city was tense but under control. The type of explosives used was not yet known, he said, but a team from the Anti-Terrorist Squad had been sent to Malegaon.

Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R.R. Patil also rushed to the Muslim majority town. The last major communal conflagration in Malegaon took place on October 26, 2001.

Following the blasts, many in the crowd directed their ire at the local police. A crowd pelted stones at the Azad Nagar station and police fired in the air. Seven policemen were injured in the clashes.

Those injured in the blasts were taken to the Wadia Hospital in Malegaon and to the Dhulia Civil Hospital, 55 km away. Around 70 of those injured were discharged after treatment. Several of the others were reportedly in a critical condition.

Mr. Deshmukh described the blasts as "a terrorist act" but said he did not know who was responsible. After a high-level meeting, he said a broken bicycle, which might have been used to place the bomb, was found at Mushaira Chowk, apart from two packets. Mr. Deshmukh said he had spoken to various political leaders and appealed to them to help in maintaining peace and harmony. The Government announced a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh to the next of kin of those killed and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

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