Twin Bombings in Hyderabad

PRESS RELEASE

Dallas, Texas - Saturday, Aug 25, 2007.

We unequivocally condemn this act of terrorism and appeal to the State Government of Andhra Pradesh to punish the wrong doers. The time for the idea has come to start charging the criminals under Indian Penal code and punish them according to the law of the land.

It is time we do not label the criminals with a religious label as it will dilute the power of punishment when the wrong doer is blurred with other identities, other than his own individual identity. http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2007/05/laser-barking-at-terrorists.html

Mike Ghouse, President
World Muslim Congress
http://www.worldmuslimcongress.com/


Twin Bombings Kill 28 in Southern India

Saturday August 25, 2007 5:31 PM
By OMER FAROOQ
Associated Press Writer

HYDERABAD, India (AP) - A pair of bombings tore through crowded public areas in the southern city of Hyderabad on Saturday night, killing 28 people and wounding dozens more, officials said.

The blasts - one in a park during a laser show, and the other in a crowded market area - went off minutes apart, officials said.

Most of the 28 people killed were in the city's Kothi market, said K. Jana Reddy, home minister for the state of Andhra Pradesh.

``This is a terrorist act,'' Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the state's chief minister.
Television footage taken in the arena where the laser show was held showed large pools of blood and dead bodies lying between rows of seats punctured by shrapnel.

Police with flashlights and dogs searched under chairs looking for more explosive devices.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

HYDERABAD, India (AP) - A pair of bombings tore through crowded public areas in the southern city of Hyderabad on Saturday night, and at least 20 people were feared killed, a police official said.

The blasts - one in a park during a laser show, and the other in a crowded market area - went off minutes apart, said the official, who spoke on condition his name not be used.
At least 17 people were feared killed in the blast at the city's Kothi market, the official said, and at least three in the laser show in Lumbini park.

In May, a bomb at a historic Hyderabad mosque killed 11 people. Another five people died in clashes that erupted after that blast between security forces and Muslim protesters angered by what they said was a lack of police protection.

A series of terrorist bombings have ripped across India in the past two years. In July 2006, bombs in seven Mumbai commuter trains killed more than 200 people. The bombings have been blamed on Pakistan-based Muslim militants.

_______________________________________


August 26, 2007
Bombs in India Kill at Least 42
Associated Press
August 26, 2007 5:54 a.m.

HYDERABAD, India -- Bangladesh-based Islamic extremists may have been behind a pair of bombings that tore through a popular restaurant and a park in this southern Indian city, killing at least 42 people, an Indian official said Sunday.

Saturday's attacks were the latest in a series of bombings to hit India in the last year, and nearly all have been blamed on Islamic extremists with foreign connections -- even when Muslims were targeted.

"Available information points to the involvement of terrorist organizations based in Bangladesh," Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state, where Hyderabad is located, told reporters after an emergency state Cabinet meeting. Mr. Reddy didn't name any groups, but Indian media reports, quoting unnamed security officials, identified Harkat-ul-Jehad-i-Islami. Mr. Reddy declined to provide more details. "It is not possible to divulge all this information," he said.

Authorities say Harkat was also behind the bombing of a historic Hyderabad mosque in May that killed 11 people, although little evidence linking the group to the blasts has been made public. Many Muslims say Hindu extremists were to blame.

Following that attack, five people were killed in clashes between security forces and Muslim protesters, angered by what they said was a lack of police protection. Hyderabad has a history of Hindu-Muslim violence, and Mr. Reddy praised residents for their restraint in the wake of Saturday's attacks.

Both the restaurant and the park were popular with Hindus and Muslims. The restaurant was destroyed by the bomb placed at the entrance, and most of the deaths reportedly occurred in the blast. Blood-covered tin plates and broken glasses littered the road outside.

The other blast struck a laser show at an auditorium in Lumbini park, leaving pools of blood and dead bodies between rows of seats punctured by shrapnel. Some seats were hurled 100 feet away.

By Sunday morning, the death toll had risen to 42 as victims succumbed to injuries sustained in the attacks, said K. Jana Reddy, the state home minister. Some 50 people were wounded in the two blasts.

Two other bombs were defused in the city Saturday, one under a footbridge in the busy Bilsukh Nagar commercial area, and another in a movie theater in the Narayanguba neighborhood, a police official said. Late-night movie showings were canceled across the city.

Much of India's Hindu-Muslim animosity is rooted in disputes over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, divided between India and mostly Muslim Pakistan but claimed in its entirety by both countries. More than a dozen Islamic insurgent groups are fighting for Kashmir's independence or its merger with Pakistan. More than 80% of India's 1.1 billion people are Hindu and 13% are Muslim. But in Hyderabad, Muslims make up 40% of the population of 7 million.

Little progress has been made in the investigation into the May mosque bombing. Underlying the divide, Muslim leaders have said they don't trust local police to handle the investigation into the attack. A series of terrorist bombings have ripped across India in the past two years. In July 2006, bombs in seven Mumbai commuter trains killed more than 200 people, attacks blamed on Pakistan-based Muslim militants.

Copyright © 2007 Associated Press