Triple Bomb Blasts Rock Varanasi, India's Holy Hindu City

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VARANASI (March 07, 2006): At least four people died in the Indian

holy city of Varanasi today when bombs exploded at a railway station

and a Hindu temple.

 

Authorities are investigating the cause of the blasts at the the

city, which attracts hundreds of thousands of foreign backpackers

each year.

 

One of the devices went off inside the Sankat Mochan temple near

dusk, at a time when the shrine was crowded with devout Hindus

making their nightly offering to the monkey-god Hanuman, said a

police spokesman.

 

"It was a powerful bomb," said Navneet Sikera, the Varanasi police

chief.

 

He said at least four people were killed and 12 others injured in

the blast, but Indian television stations reported that at least

seven people had died. The television channels said that none of the

idols in the temple was damaged in the blast.

 

Another explosion shook a train at the city's railway station, said

Mohammed Hashmi, a police inspector.

 

"The blast appears to have happened on board the Shivganga Express,"

said Mr Hashmi. "The blast could have been caused by a cooking gas

cylinder but we are not too sure." He did not know if anyone was

hurt.

 

A witness, Sunil Yadav, said there also was a blast near the ticket

counter in the waiting room of the crowded station. He described a

scene of confusion, with people running and screaming, but could not

say if there had been any deaths.

 

Police also found two primed bombs near a restaurant at Varanasi's

main cremation site on the banks of the Ganges river, Mr Hashmi

said, as police evacuated the temple and closed off the areas. "Both

the bombs were lying outside the restaurants and they were live," he

said.

 

Varanasi, which lies 700 km (450 miles) east of Delhi, is one of

Hinduism's holiest city and is ordinarily filled with pilgrims

visiting temples and bathing in the holy waters of the Ganges River,

which runs through town.

 

The explosions came days after Muslims and Hindus battled each other

in the nearby city of Lucknow, and angry Hindus looted Muslim shops

and burnt vehicles in the coastal resort of Goa.

 

SOURCE: The Times, London. Bombs rock Varanasi, India's holy Hindu

city by Jenny Booth and agencies

URL: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2073729,00.html