Reuters AlertNet Lite - Security forces sent to India state, blast toll 43

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Security forces sent to India state, blast toll 43

26 Aug 2007 05:01:10 GMT
Source: Reuters

HYDERABAD, India, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Officials sent extra police and special bomb detection equipment to an Indian state after bombs packed with metal pellets killed 43 people at a packed street food-stall and an amusement park.

Police have found another dozen bombs -- fitted with timers and placed in plastic bags -- at bus stops, cinema halls, road junctions and pedestrian bridges across Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh state, after Saturday night's blasts in the city.

"Definitely some terrorist organisation is behind these attacks, which wants to weaken our unity and peaceful co-existence," Junior Home Minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal said late on Saturday.

Nearly 80 people, including women and children, were wounded by the three blasts that went off within the space of a few minutes. Some of the wounded were in critical condition.

"The metal pellets in the bombs had worked as deadly missiles, killing more people," said Dr. K. Shastry, a senior doctor at a large hospital, which received many dead and wounded.

The police said each of the bombs also contained ammonium and were rigged with alarm clocks.

Eleven people died in two blasts at the Lumbini amusement park during a laser light show, while 32 died in the explosion at the street food stall in the heart of the city's commercial district, police said.

The blasts in Hyderabad, one of India's biggest cities, are the latest in a series of militant attacks in large urban centres in the past two years, including New Delhi and the commercial hub of Mumbai. Hundreds have died.

Police were probing the role of Islamist militants, blamed for other recent bombings in different cities.

Hyderabad is an information technology hub where foreign firms have made large investments.

GRIEF NEAR MORGUE

At a big city hospital, sobbing relatives and friends of victims held on to each other for support while standing outside a morgue, waiting for police to call them in to identify the bodies, many badly mutilated.

"They had come to shop and had stopped for a bite. Now they are all gone," said Bhaskar, 41, a family friend of two teenage girls and a young woman, who died at the food stall.

Outside the hospital, Hyderabad residents, including victims' families, shouted anti-government slogans.

Among the dead were seven engineering students from the neighbouring state of Maharashtra as well as a mother and her two daughters.

New Delhi has often blamed Pakistan-based Islamist militant groups for attacks in India. Indian officials say Pakistan needs to do more to curb the groups based in its territory.

Both nuclear-armed countries are involved in a cautious peace process, which continues to inch ahead despite attacks in India.

Saturday's bomb attacks in Hyderabad come three months after a bomb went off in a historic mosque in the southern city in May, which killed 11 people.

On Saturday, police patrols were visible in the city as many marriages are planned for Sunday with August 26 seen as an auspicious day for Hindus. (Additional reporting by Rina Chandran)

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Last updated:Sun Aug 26 05:00:30 2007