What's new

India blast kills 31, injures 100

Neo

RETIRED

New Recruit

Joined
Nov 1, 2005
Messages
18
Reaction score
0
India blast kills 31, injures 100


MALEGAON, India - Two bombs rigged to bicycles exploded in throngs of Muslims as they left Friday prayers at a mosque in this western Indian city, killing 31 people and wounding 100.

A top official called the blasts "a terrorist act," and authorities — fearing revenge attacks across the country's fragile religious divides — clamped a curfew on Malegaon and put security forces on alert.

Late Friday, the city's streets were empty, with thousands of police on patrol and checkpoints set up around the perimeter.

Malegaon, a center of India's textile industry about 180 miles northeast of Mumbai, has long been the scene of violence between Hindus and Muslims.

While it was unclear who was behind the bombings, which happened near one of the city's main mosques on a Muslim festival day, officials aggressively deployed teams of police to sensitive parts of the state.

"Law and order is under control," P.S. Pasricha, Maharashtra state's director-general of police, told The Associated Press. "There's a high alert across the state. We have activated all police machinery to ensure that communal harmony is maintained."
Malegaon, a city of about 500,000 that is 75 percent Muslim, is in Maharashtra state.
The bombings were intended to set off wider violence, officials said.

"It is a terrorist act. It is done by people who don't want peace," Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told a news conference in Mumbai, the state capital. Of the 100 people wounded, he said, 56 were seriously hurt.

Pasricha told reporters "the motive appears to be to create panic and make Hindus and Muslims fight with each other." He also spoke in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay.

Both bombs were rigged to bicycles, said Deshmukh. "We found packets with the explosives attached to these bicycles," he said.

The explosions came as Muslims celebrated the festival of Shabe Barat, or the Night of Fortune, when they hold night-long prayers seeking divine blessings, exchange sweets with neighbors and relatives, and set off fireworks.

At least some of those killed were beggars who came to the mosque because worshippers are known for their generosity on festival days, said Raees Rizvi, a Malegaon social worker.

He said community leaders had been meeting with authorities since the blasts, in an effort to stop further violence.

"This was to spread tension in the area," said Raees Rizvi.

The city's fear, though, was evident — with many streets empty of everyone but police, and few people willing to speak to a reporter.

The office of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he "appealed for peace and communal harmony and has urged all citizens across the country to remain calm."

India has suffered through a series of terror bombings over the past year, most recently attacks on commuter trains in Mumbai in July that left more than 200 people dead. Those bombings were blamed on Pakistan-based Muslim militants.

Earlier this week, Singh warned that India may be facing even bloodier attacks.
"Reports also suggest that terrorist modules and 'sleeper cells' exist in some of our urban areas, all of which highlight the seriousness of the threat," Singh told India's state chief ministers during a conference on internal security.

"The situation is tense," said Nashik Superintendent of Police Rajvardhan, who uses only one name. Nashik is about 60 miles from Malegaon.

Malegaon has been the scene of religious violence in the past, with riots between Hindus and Muslims occurring most recently in 2001, when 15 people were killed.

The U.S. Ambassador to India, David C. Mulford, deplored Friday's bombings.
"There can be no justification for such heinous acts," he said in a statement. "The United States stands with India in its fight against terrorism."

India's bloodiest religious violence in recent years came in 2002, in the western state of Gujarat, and was set off by a train fire that killed 60 Hindus returning from a religious pilgrimage.

Muslims were blamed for the fire, and more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslim, were killed by Hindu mobs. India is about 74 percent Hindu and 12 percent Muslim.
Human rights groups have accused the state government, led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party — the party which then also controlled the national government — of doing little to stop the violence.

The Bharatiya Janata Party lost power in the national Parliament in 2004.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060908...GZOP3A6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-
 
baeec0a1eee9b79c191afe79b71e5a84.jpg
Scores were wounded in the blasts after Friday prayers


At least 37 people have been killed in bombings at a Muslim graveyard in western India, authorities say.


More than 125 others were hurt in the explosions after Friday prayers in Malegaon. The hospital in the town says 20 of them are in a serious condition.

State police chief PS Pasricha said a curfew had been imposed and police reinforcements sent to the town.

It is not clear what caused the blasts as Muslims left prayers. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has led calls for calm.

Prayer day

No group has said it carried out the blasts in Malegaon, which is in Nashik district about 260km (160 miles) north-east of Maharashtra's state capital, Mumbai.

aa854a18beb67d350c08be42d3fbf500.gif
"Patients were brought to our hospital and we treated some of them and sent the rest to other hospitals "



LN Chauhan,
Wadia hospital

The blasts come days after Mr Singh told the country there were intelligence warnings of attacks. Only a month ago a series of explosions killed more than 180 people in Mumbai.

Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, RR Patil, told journalists there had been three blasts in Malegaon and not two as earlier reported.

The explosions inside the town's main burial ground for Muslims happened on Shab-e-Barat - the day Muslims pray for their dead.
Officers were investigating reports explosives were packed on bicycles.
One witness, Shaiq, told Indian television: "I was finishing my Friday prayers when I heard the explosions... there was chaos everywhere. I saw three or four bodies and blood all over. People were running all over."

A curfew was imposed in many parts of the town, including the area where the blasts had taken place.

Police said the situation was tense but under control. Angry crowds had pelted officers with stones after the blast.

US 'shock'

Manmohan Singh was swift to condemn the blasts and has appealed for calm.

02217253e9344589795866bfdebd4cf6.gif


Home Minister Shivraj Patil promised the government would deal firmly with the "terrorists" behind the attack.

He said: "The main design is not only to injure and kill innocent people... but to see that different sections of society clash and create more difficulties, more turmoil and more bloody situations."

A home ministry official in Delhi said central security forces, including personnel from the anti-riot Rapid Action Force, were being sent to Malegaon.

US ambassador David Mulford said he was "shocked and saddened by the brutal terrorist bombings" and that the US stood "with India in its fight against terrorism".

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra state, Vilasrao Deshmukh, said 100,000 rupees ($2,100) would be paid in compensation to the families of each of the dead.

Muslim-majority Malegaon, which has a population of about 500,000 and a large community of weavers, is a town with a history of communal rioting.

Earlier this year, the police recovered a large cache of arms and explosives from the area. In October 2001, violence in protest at the US attacks on Afghanistan left a total of 12 people dead in the town.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5326730.stm
 
Its all starting over again.
Malegaon has witnessed such attrocities earlier, religious violence between hindus and muslims in a predominant muslim town...:what1:
 
f0d10856876920648821fe09e229f0e9.jpg

At least two blasts occurred at a Muslim graveyard after Friday prayers in the western Indian town of Malegaon.
98baf7f448c4ac2e34f1a8f8800475c2.jpg

People had been attending prayers for the dead when the explosions occurred.
48aeed7a9b1ee04dbaed2ce745c724c0.jpg

Several dozen people died and scores more were injured in the explosions.
BBC
 
Terror Strikes Again in Malegaon
Three bomb blasts leave at least 37 dead and over 100 injured


After a brief lull following the Mumbai explosions, the terrorists have struck once again in the small town of Malegaon in western India today, when three bomb blasts struck in a deadly series of attacks.

At around 1:15 p.m. outside the Noorani Mosque the first bomb went off. About 5,000 Muslims had gathered on the occasion of Shab-e-Barat, praying for the prophet's forgiveness for sins committed. The other two bomb attacks took place in Bada Kabrastan. The bombs were placed in a bicycle carrier parked outside the mosque. The nature and intensity of the bomb is still unknown and under investigation

It is reported that at least 37 people were killed and over 100 people injured. It is suspected that most injuries were the result of a stampede following the bomb blasts. Many children were feared dead due to the stampede. Gory scenes of innocent children lying dead outside the mosque was beamed live on television.

Malegoan has a scarcity of hospitals, which makes the authorities' jobs more difficult in coping with the rising death toll and rushing medical help to the injured.

Just after the blast some the locals gave vent to their anger by indulging in arson and violence. This had prompted the authorities to place Malegaon under curfew.

So far the government has refrained from naming any terrorist organisation behind the Malegaon blast, unlike the Mumbai blast where the government was quick to point fingers at Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-toiba.

The Malagaon blast is once again seen as an attempt by the terrorist to drive a wedge between the two communities. The Government has appealed to the people of Malegaon and other parts of the country to maintain calm and peace.

Surprisingly all three bomb blasts took place in areas dominated by Muslims, who were the obvious targets. In the past, bomb attacks in the country have had Hindus as their major targets and victims.

Malagaon is a Muslim-dominated area and strong-hold area of SIMI, a banned organization. It recently came under scrutiny, as some of its former members were arrested in connection to the recent Mumbai blast. Malagaon is sensitive area with recurring skirmishes taking place between Hindus and Muslims. In the past, a large haul of ammunition and explosives were seized from this area.

Just two day before the Malegoan blast Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had chaired the meeting of the chief ministers of all states. In his speech he highlighted the intelligence warning of more terror attacks in the country and cautioned the state to become extra vigilant.

Source
 
So they had settled the score for Bombay Train blasts!
So now whom the Indian Government blam for masacre of Muslims ???
 
Lets not jump into premature conclusions till the official reports become available.

Eventhough one can expect GoI to link the attck to Pakistan, she always does, there are several other possibilites;

- Revenge from hindu extremists for Mumbai blasts (BJP?)
- SIMI
- Just another sectarian clash as we've had these before in Malegaon.

Lets hope the muslims don't retaliate...
 
So they had settled the score for Bombay Train blasts!
So now whom the Indian Government blam for masacre of Muslims ???

Jana,

I believe you are on the suspect list! :cheers:

And there is nothing to settle scores. Those who died were Indians. And without naming countries as Musharraf doesn't name countries but leaves hardly anything to doubt, we know who is behind all this.

Nice way to get the communties at each others throat!

Just think a bit.

If Indians fight amongst each other, who benefits the most? ;)

I am being rather obtuse because you are being obtuse.

The bottomline for all Indian is that it is a damn shame that we cannot protect our own people.

It is really a soft state!

Maybe Indian should also sign a treaty with the Taleban and AQ.
 
It's a damn shame that hindustan cannot protect its Muslims citizens. Does it even consider them equal citizens?

Once again salim keeps driving forward his propaganda, which was exposed in the vande mataram thread.
 
Averröes;26221 said:
It's a damn shame that hindustan cannot protect its Muslims citizens. Does it even consider them equal citizens?


maybe because its called hindustan. :p
 
Averröes;26221 said:
It's a damn shame that hindustan cannot protect its Muslims citizens.
Unfair considering the fact that we haven't done it better when it comes to minorities in Pakistan.
Be realistic!
Does it even consider them equal citizens?
Thats an interesting question.
I've travelled throughout India and majority of muslims I met in different states doesn't think so and still considers Indian 'secular' status to be predominantly hindu based.
But there are 'reserved quota's' for muslims in parliament so it seems.
 
City of Malegaon in India a day after it was hit by bomb attacks to find residents seething with anger.

"What goes around comes around," said a local police officer.

The tongue-in-cheek remark was meant to be an off-the-record comment.

But that just summed up the reputation of Malegaon, a dusty town of 700,000 people, two-thirds of them Muslims, in the eyes of officials, who often brand it as a hotbed of support for home-grown as well international Islamic militant organisations.


Indeed its reputation was not helped when a large cache of arms and ammunition was seized from men who were born and raised here a few weeks before the Mumbai bomb blasts two months ago.

The town, home to a large number of Muslim weavers, has been officially declared sensitive by the Maharashtra state police chief, P.S. Pasricha.

But this is a tag vehemently resented by local Muslims.

A local weaver Nayeemuddin said: "If we were volatile, there would have been retaliation by us. But we have been very peaceful, despite a heavy loss of lives."


Roaming anger

But some of them did turn violent. When the two bombs went off in the town soon after Friday prayers, they expressed their resentment by attacking policemen and their vehicles soon after the bomb blasts.

Malegaon has always been accused of harbouring Islamic terrorists - now tell me, why would we be attacked on a day which is so pious in Islam?

Manzoor Ilahi
Malegaon resident

Just before I reached Malegaon, I was told that many parts of the town were under a curfew.

I arrived just before midnight, wondering who on earth would be awake to talk to me around that time. I also imagined the town would look deserted because of the curfew.

But to my astonishment there were more people on the roads than on a normal day.

Regardless of the curfew, men dressed in traditional Muslim attire were roaming the streets, wondering why their town was attacked by militants.


Hundreds of men were trying to escort journalists to the scenes of bombings. Many of them sounded really shaken.

Manzoor Ilahi was fuming. "Malegaon has always been accused of harbouring Islamic terrorists. Now tell me, why would we be attacked on a day which is so pious in Islam?"

Dozens of people joined him in support.

A man from the crowd summed up the general feelings: "The day and time were carefully chosen to maximise the casualty. It could not have been done by Islamic terrorists."


One-upmanship

Maharashtra state's deputy chief minister, R.R. Patil, in an interview with the BBC, praised the overall patience displayed by local Muslims.

He also said he disapproved of the "sensitive" tag.

Mr Patil, who was the first high-ranking minister to rush to Malegaon, said it was still unclear who could have triggered these bombs.



Malegaon residents supported the Taleban
But he had a view on the possible motive of the attackers:

"The time and place of attack suggest the bombings were carried out to create tensions between Hindus and Muslims."

However, he was unable to throw light on the possible link between the serial bomb blasts on commuter trains in Mumbai in which more than 180 people were killed and the latest bombings in Malegaon.

Just a few days before the latest blasts, India's prime minister had warned a meeting of all state chief ministers that more attacks were imminent.

Should Mr Patil accept a lapse on the part of his administration?

His candid answer was that the attackers successfully played the game of one-upmanship.

"We had made appropriate security arrangements for the graveyard, where Muslims had to visit on the night. The arrangements were to take effect from 1700. But terrorists surprised us by exploding bombs soon after Friday prayers in the early afternoon."

But he added that watertight security was impossible.

"Despite heavy security arrangements in New York and London, they were attacked. Yes, we have to be on our toes, but 100% security cannot be guaranteed."


Taleban town

But residents were not impressed by the police intelligence-gathering network.

If a needle is pierced in any part of your body the whole body hurts, doesn't it? The Muslims all over the world are like a human body

Mohammed Irfan
Malegaon resident

Drug store owner Sheikh Rashid said the police should have enough information on militant activity because the city has been under surveillance since some local men were arrested a few months ago.

Imran Ansari, meanwhile, is angry.

He lost his brother and two young nephews in the bomb attacks.

The trio had gone to the mosque to offer Friday prayers, but never returned.


"We are looked at suspiciously by the police. But has any Hindu been killed by Muslims here, ever? Has there been any communal riot between Hindus and Muslims in recent times?" he asked.

It is unfair to treat townspeople as supporters of Islamic militancy, he says.

It was this nondescript town five years ago that had witnessed a large scale protest over the US invasion of Afghanistan.

Police killed 12 Muslim protesters after a brief altercation with them.

The Taleban government had enjoyed immense support in Malegaon.

But why do they react to the attacks on Muslim countries?

Mohammed Irfan, a member of a large crowd around me, answered:

"If a needle is pierced in any part of your body the whole body hurts, doesn't it? The Muslims all over the world are like a human body."

But does it hurt to see no Muslim country came out to condemn the latest attacks on them?

"It's their problem. We do our duty... It's an obligation by Islam to support Muslims and we do our Islamic duty."

And perhaps this is the mindset that worries the establishment the most.
 
Malegaon does cause concern.

It is also very heartening to find that Pakistanis are realising the horrors that face India and one could only wish the same indignation that is being shown now, was shown when the other blasts and scores of deaths also occured.

Indians suffers at the hands of terrorists.

But then at least the awakening to the horrors is manifesting itself.
 
Back
Top Bottom