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Black Friday in Hyderabad
New Delhi - At least five people were killed Friday in a bomb blast at the largest mosque in India's southern city of Hyderabad, officials said.
Thirty-five were injured in the explosion that occurred soon after Friday prayers at the Mecca Mosque in the old quarters of the city.
Witnesses said the bomb was hidden under a stone bench near an area where people were performing ablutions after the prayers.
'The information we have is that five people were killed in the blast,' India's Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil told reporters.
Earlier local news outlets had reported that the explosion had left six people dead.
'It seems like the blast was caused by a crude bomb. We are investigating who the perpetrators of the attack are, but our priority is to provide relief to the affected people,' Patil added.
Hyderabad police said a larger tragedy was averted when bomb- disposal squads defused three live bombs that were found inside the mosque, where nearly 8,000 worshippers had gathered for Friday prayers.
Doctors at the nearby Osmania hospital said 35 injured were brought to the facility. 'Four of them are critically injured,' V Sriniwas said.
Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta meanwhile said there was a terrorist link to the blast. 'It appears to be a terrorist act,'he said.
Locals angered over the explosion at one of the oldest and most revered places of worship in the city pelted police and media personnel with stones at the scene.
Police resorted to caning and firing tear gas to disperse the protestors. They issued orders for shops to close in the area and appealed to people to remain indoors.
Soon after the blasts, the Indian government placed national capital New Delhi, Mumbai and the southern IT hub of Bangalore on high alert. Later in the day, protestors in the western Mumbai city pelted stones and damaged five passenger buses.
Officers were investigating the nature of the explosives used in the blast at the mosque, which is said to be 400 years old and built with bricks from Mecca.
'Investigations are going on, but I appeal to citizens to be calm and not to be victims of divisive forces,' said senior police official MA Basith.
The blast come nine months after a similar attack at a mosque in the western town of Malegaon. Thirty-seven people were killed and more than 100 injured there in two bombings at the Noorani Mosque after prayers on September 8.
Indian police suspect Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist outfits to be behind attacks on mosques and temples that are reported at regular intervals.
Security agencies said such attacks are carried out to trigger communal tension in India, which has a history of religious violence between Hindus and Muslims.
Thirty-five were injured in the explosion that occurred soon after Friday prayers at the Mecca Mosque in the old quarters of the city.
Witnesses said the bomb was hidden under a stone bench near an area where people were performing ablutions after the prayers.
'The information we have is that five people were killed in the blast,' India's Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil told reporters.
Earlier local news outlets had reported that the explosion had left six people dead.
'It seems like the blast was caused by a crude bomb. We are investigating who the perpetrators of the attack are, but our priority is to provide relief to the affected people,' Patil added.
Hyderabad police said a larger tragedy was averted when bomb- disposal squads defused three live bombs that were found inside the mosque, where nearly 8,000 worshippers had gathered for Friday prayers.
Doctors at the nearby Osmania hospital said 35 injured were brought to the facility. 'Four of them are critically injured,' V Sriniwas said.
Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta meanwhile said there was a terrorist link to the blast. 'It appears to be a terrorist act,'he said.
Locals angered over the explosion at one of the oldest and most revered places of worship in the city pelted police and media personnel with stones at the scene.
Police resorted to caning and firing tear gas to disperse the protestors. They issued orders for shops to close in the area and appealed to people to remain indoors.
Soon after the blasts, the Indian government placed national capital New Delhi, Mumbai and the southern IT hub of Bangalore on high alert. Later in the day, protestors in the western Mumbai city pelted stones and damaged five passenger buses.
Officers were investigating the nature of the explosives used in the blast at the mosque, which is said to be 400 years old and built with bricks from Mecca.
'Investigations are going on, but I appeal to citizens to be calm and not to be victims of divisive forces,' said senior police official MA Basith.
The blast come nine months after a similar attack at a mosque in the western town of Malegaon. Thirty-seven people were killed and more than 100 injured there in two bombings at the Noorani Mosque after prayers on September 8.
Indian police suspect Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist outfits to be behind attacks on mosques and temples that are reported at regular intervals.
Security agencies said such attacks are carried out to trigger communal tension in India, which has a history of religious violence between Hindus and Muslims.
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