Terror Strikes India, Hindu Temple Targeted

Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Terror Strikes India, Hindu Temple Targeted
Now, The Tribune of India has video from the scene, HERE

Three bomb blasts went off in the northern Indian city of Varanasi today where at least 21 people were killed. There was a wedding ceremony taking place in a crowded Hindu temple where one of the blasts went off.

People and policemen stand at the site of a bomb blast at the railway station in Varanasi, India, Tuesday, March 7, 2006. Explosions rocked a packed railway station and crowded Hindu temple Tuesday in Hinduism's holiest city, and at least 12 people were killed and dozens injured, officials said. (AP Photo/Rajesh Chaurasia)

The second blast occurred at 6.30 p.m. at the railway station in the city's cantonment area, 11 km from the temple. The third blast occurred almost simultaneously in a coach of an express train that was about to pull out.

Venarasi is one the oldest cities in the world and is Hinduism's most sacred city.

One of the blasts went off in a temple and two others went off in the railroad station. A third bomb was found in a residential area and was being defused:


'Fifteen people have died and about 60 are injured. The blasts were pretty big and I do not rule out a terrorist hand behind it,' Navneet Sikera, Varanasi's police chief, told Reuters.

The three explosions occurred between 6 p.m. and 6.45 p.m., police said. A bomb was also recovered from a residential area and was being defused, they added.

'There was a very loud noise and all my men rushed to the spot,' said Jabir Ali, a police inspector at Varanasi's cantonment railway station.

No group claimed responsibility for the blasts "