Nine killed in blast at Hyderabad`s Mecca Mosque

Courtesy:www.zeenews.com

Hyderabad, May 18: A powerful crude bomb exploded during Friday prayers at the historic Mecca Mosque here on Friday, killing nine persons and injuring 31 others, including two children. Officials said the attack appeared to have a terror link.

The explosion occurred at about 1.30 pm in an area where ablutions are performed as thousands of people were offering prayers at the 300-year-old mosque built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Two live bombs were detected at the mosque in the communally sensitive Charminar area of the old city soon after the blast and were defused. Later a third bomb was found in the mosque premises which was also defused.

Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta said in Delhi that the blast appeared to have a terror link while Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said it was an act of “intentional sabotage” by anti-social elements opposed to communal amity.
 
 
A large posse of policemen that rushed to the scene faced an angry crowd, which pelted stones at them and shops in the vicinity. Police resorted to a baton-charge and used teargas to disperse the people.

State Home Minister K Jana Reddy was also stopped from entering the mosque by a crowd that shut its huge green wooden doors in his face. Only after some persuasion by him and officials was he allowed to make an on-the-spot inspection.

The Rapid Action Force was deployed in sensitive areas of the city to maintain peace. Union Home Ministry sent advisory to all states to maintain communal harmony and law and order in the wake of the Hyderabad mosque explosion. A high alert was sounded across Andhra Pradesh as well as Mumbai and Delhi.


The Chief Minister said: “It is an intentional sabotage to disturb the peace and harmony in the state. Anti-social elements want to see that different communities do not live in peace.

“Some inputs were coming in the last two or two-and- half months that some elements were trying to disturb peace. All steps were taken. But still such things do happen.”

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