ANDHRA ON HIGH ALERT
Font Size 
Hyderabad under siege, three bombs recovered
Published on Sun, Aug 26, 2007 at 07:53, Updated on Sun, Aug 26, 2007 at 12:57 in India section
Tags: Hyderabad Blasts, Police
TARGET HYDERABAD |
 The police have taken 25 people into custody. They were picked up from various lodges and hotels in Hyderabad on suspicion. |
| Police have identified the explosive used as Neoi Gel 90. It was allegedly sourced from a chemical plant in Nagpur. |
| The police have said timer devices could have been used in the attacks. |
| However, sources say the hand of suicide bombers cannot be ruled out. |
| The police have tightened security at many places, including the Tirupati Balaji temple. |
| The state cabinet is meeting today to take stock of the situation. |
Related Stories
Photogallery
 |  |
New Delhi / Hyderabad: Barely three months after a blast at Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid, the city was rocked by two near-simultaneous bomb blasts at a crowded park and a popular eatery on Saturday evening.
Nearly 44 people are feared dead, including five women and two students and over 100 were injured when deafening explosions ripped through the recreational centres in Lumbini Park and Hyderbad's famous Gokul Chat Bhandar in Kothi locality, which was teeming with weekend crowd.
Hundreds of people had gathered to see a laser show at the Lumbini Park, which is situated near the Andhra state secretariat in the heart of the city.
As the show was underway a powerful blast ripped through the middle row of the open-air auditorium at 1940 hours IST. The blast was so powerful that some of bodies were flung into the air and scattered all over the area leaving at least seven dead and 29 injured. Among the dead at the Lumbini Park were two students from Ahmedabad.
Home Minister K Jana Reddy said about 500 people were seated in the auditorium at the time of the incident.
“At 7:40 we heard a loud sound. We didn't know what happened,” a visibly shattered security officer at Lumbini Park, Kutti said.
Five minutes after the first blast, another high intensity blast, hardly five kilometers from Lumbini Park, took place in Gokul Chat Bhandar in the Kothi market area killing at least 24 people and injuring over 40.
The blast at Gokul Chat Bhandar was much more powerful as the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition.
The injured were rushed to different hospitals in the city including Osmania, Medicity and Yashoda Hospital. The condition of 10 to 15 injured people is said to be critical.
Seven engineering students from Maharashtra are also among the dead in the twin blasts.
"Both the blasts occurred at the same time. So these attacks can be linked. We are analysing the details,” Hyderabad Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh, who visited the blast sites, said.
Immediately after the blasts, material to make explosives was recovered from 16 locations across the city. A bigger disaster was averted when police recovered live bombs from three separate places in the city including one in the Lumbini Park auditorium, and defused them on time, police sources said.
The other bombs detected and defused were in Dilsukhnagar where a bomb was planted underneath a foot-over-bridge with a timer set for 2130 hours IST and Venkataramana Theatre at Kachigudu locality.
Police have identified the explosive used as Neoi Gel 90, which was allegedly sourced from a chemical plant in Nagpur.
Senior police and central intelligence officials told CNN-IBN that the explosives used in the blasts were similar to those used in Mecca Masjid explosions which claimed 11 lives in May this year.
Police sources have also told CNN-IBN that the bombs might have been assembled in Hyderabad and the same outfit, which was behind the Mecca Masjid blast, could also be behind this attack as in both instances cell phone timers were used.
The police have taken 25 people into custody. They were picked up from various lodges and hotels in Hyderabad on suspicion.
Initially, the police had said timer devices were used for the attacks but now sources say they are not ruling out the hand of suicide bombers also.
Andhra Pradesh has been put on high alert and the police have tightened security at many places including the Tirupati Balaji temple.
The state cabinet is meeting on Sunday to take stock of the situation.
Security has also been beefed up because Sunday happens to be an auspicious day for weddings and over 1,000 marriages are scheduled in the city. It also includes the wedding of Telugu Desam chief Chandrababu Naidu's son Lokesh.
And as the state battles the problem, the Union Government has offered all help.
“We are in touch with the state government. Whatever is necessary would be done. We are sending a senior officer to Hyderabad. I would not like to speculate on the organisation behind the attack however, the act should be condemned,” Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta said.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil and leader of the Opposition L K Advani are expected to visit Hyderabad on Sunday.
Chronology of major bombings in South India
May 18, 2007: At least 13 people were killed, in the blasts at Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad. That blast took place during Friday prayers.
December 2005: Professor M C Puri was killed in an attack at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Four scientists were seriously injured. A gunman had opened fire at the group of scientists.
February 1998: Forty-six persons were killed in 13 bomb attacks at 11 places in Coimbatore. The dead included 35 men, 10 women and a child.
Andhra Pradesh government has requested people to donate blood for blast victims. Helpline numbers are 040-23559555, 9948118765.
(With inputs from Shwetal Kamalapurkar and Sheikh Ahmed Ali)
| Ads by Google |
| Related Ads: | |
Read Comment | Post Comment
I dont think UPAs policy of appeasing minorities has anything to do with it. "And" Shivraj Patil talks less but
Read Comment
I woke up Saturday morning in the US only to see on ibnlive about the blasts. It is almost a
Read Comment
Hi i really depressed about yesterdays incident many muslims and hindus were died in this inciednt. police and minesters will
Read Comment
Its was not new to hyderabadi's we all are expected this blasts take place in hyderbad, even police forces can't
Read Comment
Nearly 40 innocent people have lost their lives becuase of an cowardly attack...What actually they want from us.?????
It is really
Read Comment
Read more comment »