Two explosions rock Varanasi, four killed

beach

Tuesday, 07 March , 2006, 19:05

Varanasi: At least four persons were killed and several others injured when two separate explosions rocked near Sankatmochan temple and railway station in Varanasi.


The first explosion took place outside the temple at around 5 p.m. when a large number of devotees were present at the peak evening ‘aarti’ time as it was Tuesday, believed to be a special day for Lord Hanuman.

More news at Sify http://sify.com/news/othernews/fulls...hp?id=14157536

TV news chanels are showing pictures and other details about this multiple blast. They say the temple & structures are intact. Lot of chaos and the place is evacuated to search for more bombs....

beach

Current news at NDTV site

Appeal for calm

Another bomb was also recovered from the Gadolia market in the city.

"Some sick mind must have done it. All communities must come together in this time of terrible tragedy," said Salman Khursheed, President, UPCC.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has condemned the blasts and appealed for calm.
A high level meeting of Home Ministry officials is currently underway and Home Minister Shivraj Patil is expected to visit Varanasi. A high alert has been sounded in Delhi and Mumbai.

jivan

Slight correction, it's not 2 but 3 bombs. It's all over the news.

gus

The city is in full chaos. The main ghat is closed so are many roads leading to it. According to rumours the police have also found and disarmed a bomb at dasawanmed ghat (main ghat), but i dont know how true these rumors are. People who stay near this area are adviced to keep to the narrow streets and stay alert. I will come back with more news as soon as possible!

gus,
currently in benares.

sadhuji

Yes, people might label me as a nastik, a reincarnation of Satan, alias Shaitan. But, I am extremely sorry to inform my readers that we Indians are nothing but sitting ducks in front of the terrorists who do no need any elaborate plan to strike at our sensitive religious installations. We have so many of them that there will invariably be several that remain unguarded and, hence, vulnerable.

I make this statement in the context of the bomb blasts this evening in the Cantonment railway station and the Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi. The suddenness of these attacks take us by surprise, we curse the administration and raise fingers of accusation at the party which is in power in the particular state. We overlook the fact that these are incidents that can be controlled if there is determination to root out the evil.

We had the experience of the attack on Akshardham temple followed by the attempt in the Ram Janmabhoomi complex. No amount of vigil by a handful of ill equipped police armed with primitive firearms can prevent such attacks. What is necessary is a strong legislation to restrict temples to a few in number, say one per state, so that policing is easy. As it happens, we have temples by the dozen to meet the needs of the populace. If only we could restrict these sensitive installations, we would have thwarted the sinister designs of trouble makers. If the will is there, a way can always be found out. I know that this is a tall ask – no one in his right mind will support my cause because these are major sources of finance for a whole lot of people whose very survival depends on places of worship. But, then, they should be made responsible to provide security coverage also. It is not correct to shrug away the basic responsibility and search for scapegoats in the administration. Neither is it advisable to take advantage of such happenings and stoke up fires that are detrimental to the health of the nation and try to extract political mileage.

After such incidents, it is customary to reveal that intelligence reports had been passed on to the local administration but action was not taken. It is conveniently forgotten that waging a war against terrorism is everybody’s business.

__________________
mooning over a moon journey

PRIYA

OMG this is too terrible - and to do it during aarti knowing how many people would be involved is absolutely disgusting. All I can say is my thoughts and prayers are with the injured, and the families of the victims who have paid the ultimate price AND FOR WHAT??!!!!!

__________________
Happiness is for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched and those who have tried. For only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives. (Anon.)

mridula

I know the news is full of it and it is so horribel. And there goes the Jessica Lall's case from the news for the time being!

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mridula

http://www.gonomad.com/traveltalesfromindia/

kidsan

i was in delhi for the bombs in october last year and it is bringing all that back.
there certainly seems to be similarities...

jivan

First of all it could be anti-religion, anti-class or anti-country. So labelling all as terrorists would be something to be careful about. Who did it remains to be seen.

I expected something better from you, oh wise one! In a country which has so many different belief systems & sub-systems it's difficult to have a single temple for a state. Similarly train stations where masses come & go. The only way is to have some kind of sensor technology (or police dogs) who can sense c-4 or kinds of plastic explosives. Again, the dogs as well as the personnel handling them need to be pretty well-trained otherwise can be a hindrance as well as a PR issue. It's a complex subject having complex answers. In this case the time it happened both in the temple as well as the station it was rush-hour/aarti where nobody's attention would be. I would have to hand to them that they knew when/where/how to strike. It's also similar to the mumbai blasts a few yrs. earlier but far lesser than before. Could it be that large blasts have a larger media focus hence investigation while smaller do not or something else?

True, the point is & I'm sure the intelligence community agrees, one gets so many feelers/rumors come to them & how are they to distinguish which is real/unreal & where/how to prepare for that. This is not the first nor it would be the last. It's upto us only to be prepared.

beach

The police (bomb detection squad) has recovered some 4 unexploded bombs hidden.

looks like the handi work of some terrorist organisation (the compactness of the explossives used, the time device, serial blasts etc etc ). Anyway hope the worst is over...

greenchutney

well...after watching a couple of hours of this on the media!....my conclusions..

1: English Media is atrocious...They are having oral diarrheoa..Absolutely asking anything and everything!...good lord..no control, no objectivety...they are throwing words into peoples mouth...asking absolutely irrelevant questions...We have labels/headers now...(Terror Strikes Temple Town)!..

2: Politicians are all playing their games....They had SP, BJP, BSP, Congress and whoever else has a 2 man party.....Good lord...each of them is playing their positioning game...Everyone is gunning for Mulayam's head...and watching for their votebanks....Sonia, Shivraj, everyone wants to be seen at the site...what they are going to do there...god only knows..but looks like they want to be seen.....and on that...interestingly enough Mulayam aint going..he is sending his bro...Kalyan Singh has called a bandh...yeah right!..How does that help the situation...again..comes back to the starting statement of this point...

3: It appears that it is a preplanned attack and usually they take 2 or 3 months...Blaming it on the Bush issue or the Cartoon issue is absolutely silly and I am aghast that few of the guys who came in the media are saying these as the reasons! and citing that 'we' should go with iran instead.. Good Lord!.....This is a terrorist attack for sure....

crvlvr

If this act is ever pinned on muslims, I am afraid to think of the carnage that will follow. Militant hindu groups like the RSS & shiv Sena will target the mosques on fridays.

karmaman

its a sick world we live in............

everytime i hear of something like this im saddened, what can anyone hope to achieve by this ....misguided fanatascism.... yes my friends 'religion' has a lot to answer for. and forgive me if im bieng a bit simplistic in my views, but hey we all live on this planet and are fortunate, perhaps i should ignore it and live my life f..k no, but then again what can i do about it ? is ignorance bliss?
may whoever commits these revolting acts get the full effect of bad karma

greenchutney

no..i dont think so~....shiv sena is weak..having split everywhere....
but this will be an issue for elections for sure....mulayam is a dead duck! and rightfully so...looks like there were sufficient warnings of such stuff...and obviously he was busy elsewhere....

these are terrorist groups (the religion they belong but probably dont represent) you know....it does not have any localised group thumbprints...atleast from the look of it so far....i dont think RSS will do anything to be honest....it will probably be the bajrang dal types if at all...personally i think there will plenty of noises for sure on either side....

hate to say it here but there is plenty of minority appeasement and its very obvious how these politicians are playing votebank politics....they are playing with fire and this does not portend well for the immediate future....

there are six parties in UP (and many other small ones)...the BSP, BJP, SP, Congress, Commies (CPI CPI(M), RJD...and they all have an agenda on how to play on the emotions and get their votes.....not a single of them have a single cell that is sincerity in the true sense..and these thugs will employ all strategies to come to power....even in this time of tragedy what calls for a united and professional response..they are playing petty politics.......

schauen

i have a flight to delhi tomorrow morning, planning ot attend the holifestival in bersana, vrindavan, mathura. (many people, temples)
i dont know wether i should cancel my plans.....i really want to see and take pictures at holi, but it could be too dangerous to visit a temple with many people. its hard to tell.
what feeling do you have about the situation in india....?
shoudl all temples with many people be avoided?

thanks anna