Terror Returns to India, Twin Blasts Rock Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Terror struck Hyderabad killing 12 people and injuring 84 others on Thursday night when two powerful near simultaneous blasts ripped through a crowded area close to a cluster of bus stands in Dilsukhnagar area.

The blasts triggered by Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) tied to two bicycles took place in the peak hour at two sites 100 metres apart outside a roadside eatery near Konark and Venkatadiri theatres in the area located on the Hyderabad-Vijaywada national highway in Cyberabad police limits.

The scene wore a gory look with severed body parts lying around. Footwear and various other objects were also seen indicating the desperation of the victims and the injured to flee the spot.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts, saying those behind the dastardly act will not go unpunished.

Banned militant outfit Indian Mujahideen's name has cropped up in the preliminary investigation into the twin blasts  in which the toll climbed to 16.

The probe suggested that  the modus operandi was similar to blasts triggered by Indian Mujahideen in the past.

Delhi Police, along with Hyderabad Police, is expected to interrogate an alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorist, arrested by Special Cell of the Delhi Police from a place in Hyderabad last October. Maqbool, who is currently in Tihar jail, had said the outfit was planning terror strikes in some places in Hyderabad for which recce had been carried out.

The death toll in the twin blasts, meanwhile, mounted to 16 with two more persons succumbing to injuries.  "Till now, out of 14 bodies, 12 have been handed over to their kin. Two more bodies are in the mortuary. One has to be identified. 14 bodies have directly been sent to Osmania Hospital. Two more are awaited from private hospitals," a senior doctor at the state-run Osmania General Hospital said.

As many as 119 people sustained injuries in the twin blasts last evening, police said. Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who visited the site of the blast and also the injured in hospital, said there was no specific alert about the blasts and only a general alert was issued to the states.

Asked about reports that suggested the involvement of terror group Indian Mujahideen, he said nothing can be said about it at the moment.  Terror struck Hyderabad yesterday when two powerful near simultaneous blasts ripped through a crowded area close to a cluster of bus stands in Dilsukhnagar area.

The Saroor Nagar police has registered a case, based on a complaint by an eye-witness Gadagolla Anand, under different sections of IPC and Sections 3 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act as well as Sections 16, 17 and 18 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.