03-07-2006, 06:31 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Terror shatters serenity at Varanasi </b>
Pioneer.com
Ramesh K Singh / Varanasi
*12 killed in four blasts * Sankat Mochan temple first target---- A series of bomb blasts in this holy temple town on Tuesday evening left at least 12 people dead and a hundred injured, many of them seriously. Seven bombs were later defused, including one that had been planted near the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
The deadliest attack was on the famous Sankat Mochan temple where thousands of devotees had assembled to pay obeisance to Lord Hanuman around 6.05 pm. The impact of the blast was so powerful that many of the victims were blown to smithereens.
While scores of devotees were left bleeding by the explosion, several others were hurt in the stampede that followed. The blast sent shock waves across the city.
Even before local residents and the police could come to grips with the bombing at Sankat Mochan temple, a number of blasts rocked the Cantonment Railway Station in less than 10 minutes of the first explosion.
According to initial reports, a bomb exploded in the general compartment of Shiv-Ganga Express (Varanasi-New Delhi) which was about to chug out of the station. Almost simultaneously, another bomb went off outside the station while one exploded in the waiting room.
At least 50 people were injured in these bombings while no death was confirmed.
Late evening, a bomb went off on the railway tracks at Lohta, 30 km from Varanasi. Details are awaited.
The toll is bound to shoot up as crowded areas were specifically targeted in an attempt to create terror in this Hindu pilgrimage city. Police have sealed the city limits and the railway station has been evacuated.
<b>People who had gathered on the ghats of Ganga for evening rituals - including the famous aarti -- panicked when a bomb had was found at Dashaswamedh Ghat. It was later defused.</b>
<b>Four bombs were discovered near a restaurant in Gaodhulia area which were defused by the hotel staff and local residents.</b>
Going by the well-orchestrated plan in which the serial blasts were triggered, it is clearly the work of a terror organisation though no group has as yet owned responsibility.
In New Delhi, the Prime Minister condemned the bombings. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil had left for Varanasi when the last report came in. The Centre has placed 500 CRPF personnel at the disposal of the Uttar Pradesh Government for deployment in sensitive areas to maintain law and order -- 200 personnel will be deployed in Varanasi itself. Mr Patil said the Centre has alerted all the States to be vigilant.
<b>Security stepped up, plea for calm</b>
New Delhi:The Centre on Tuesday night placed for deployment 200 CRPF personnel in Varanasi and another 300 elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh even as security at temples and vital installations in the state, Delhi and Mumbai was stepped-up.
New Delhi: Union Home Secretary VK Duggal told reporters after a meeting of the officials that the three blasts in Varanasi - one in Sankatmochan Temple and two in Cantonment Railway Station - took place within a gap of ten minutes of each other, a pattern adopted in the Delhi explosions on October 29 last year.
Rishikesh: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Chidanand Muni and other saints from Rishikesh have strongly condemned the serial blasts in Varanasi while urging people to keep calm. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Sri Sri Ravi Shankar also expressed dismay at the way the political parties are playing with the security of the people. "Today, Hindus feel completely unsafe in India. Terrorists are attacking especially the Hindu community. First it was Diwali, and now it is on the eve of Holi." </span>
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Pioneer.com
Ramesh K Singh / Varanasi
*12 killed in four blasts * Sankat Mochan temple first target---- A series of bomb blasts in this holy temple town on Tuesday evening left at least 12 people dead and a hundred injured, many of them seriously. Seven bombs were later defused, including one that had been planted near the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
The deadliest attack was on the famous Sankat Mochan temple where thousands of devotees had assembled to pay obeisance to Lord Hanuman around 6.05 pm. The impact of the blast was so powerful that many of the victims were blown to smithereens.
While scores of devotees were left bleeding by the explosion, several others were hurt in the stampede that followed. The blast sent shock waves across the city.
Even before local residents and the police could come to grips with the bombing at Sankat Mochan temple, a number of blasts rocked the Cantonment Railway Station in less than 10 minutes of the first explosion.
According to initial reports, a bomb exploded in the general compartment of Shiv-Ganga Express (Varanasi-New Delhi) which was about to chug out of the station. Almost simultaneously, another bomb went off outside the station while one exploded in the waiting room.
At least 50 people were injured in these bombings while no death was confirmed.
Late evening, a bomb went off on the railway tracks at Lohta, 30 km from Varanasi. Details are awaited.
The toll is bound to shoot up as crowded areas were specifically targeted in an attempt to create terror in this Hindu pilgrimage city. Police have sealed the city limits and the railway station has been evacuated.
<b>People who had gathered on the ghats of Ganga for evening rituals - including the famous aarti -- panicked when a bomb had was found at Dashaswamedh Ghat. It was later defused.</b>
<b>Four bombs were discovered near a restaurant in Gaodhulia area which were defused by the hotel staff and local residents.</b>
Going by the well-orchestrated plan in which the serial blasts were triggered, it is clearly the work of a terror organisation though no group has as yet owned responsibility.
In New Delhi, the Prime Minister condemned the bombings. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil had left for Varanasi when the last report came in. The Centre has placed 500 CRPF personnel at the disposal of the Uttar Pradesh Government for deployment in sensitive areas to maintain law and order -- 200 personnel will be deployed in Varanasi itself. Mr Patil said the Centre has alerted all the States to be vigilant.
<b>Security stepped up, plea for calm</b>
New Delhi:The Centre on Tuesday night placed for deployment 200 CRPF personnel in Varanasi and another 300 elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh even as security at temples and vital installations in the state, Delhi and Mumbai was stepped-up.
New Delhi: Union Home Secretary VK Duggal told reporters after a meeting of the officials that the three blasts in Varanasi - one in Sankatmochan Temple and two in Cantonment Railway Station - took place within a gap of ten minutes of each other, a pattern adopted in the Delhi explosions on October 29 last year.
Rishikesh: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Chidanand Muni and other saints from Rishikesh have strongly condemned the serial blasts in Varanasi while urging people to keep calm. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Sri Sri Ravi Shankar also expressed dismay at the way the political parties are playing with the security of the people. "Today, Hindus feel completely unsafe in India. Terrorists are attacking especially the Hindu community. First it was Diwali, and now it is on the eve of Holi." </span>
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