Bomb attacks kill 15 in India

Police inspect the site of a bomb blast in the northern Indian city of Varanasi. Picture / Reuters

DELHI - A series of bomb attacks in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi yesterday left at least 15 people dead.

One of the explosions went off inside a temple when it was crowded with thousands of worshippers, and there were immediate fears of violent reprisals last night after one of the holiest cities in Hinduism was targeted.

High alerts were issued in Delhi, Bombay and cities across India, as the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, called for calm.

There was no claim of responsibility, but initial suspicions fell on Islamic militants, who have targeted Hindu temples in India in the past.

No one doubts the danger of Hindu-Muslim violence in India.

In 2002, more than 2,000 people were killed in revenge attacks in Gujarat after Hindu pilgrims died in a train fire that was blamed on Muslims.

The attack could also set off dangerous tensions between India and Pakistan, which Indian politicians have repeatedly accused of being behind similar attacks in the past.

Just four years ago, the two nuclear-armed rivals almost went to war after a series of attacks by Islamic militants in India.

Details of the blasts in Varanasi were sketchy last night.

The city was packed with Hindu pilgrims and it was not clear if the death toll would rise.

The first explosion went off in the Sankat Mochan temple, one of the oldest and most revered in the city, in the early evening, the busiest time of the day, and it was clear that worshippers had been targeted.

Television pictures showed worshippers in shirts soaked with the blood of the wounded they had carried to safety.

The crowds tore down gates from neighbouring buildings to use as makeshift stretchers.

"It was a high intensity blast," a man identified as Pradeep told India's CNN-IBN television.

"After the blast people were running like anything." Moments later two bombs went off at Varanasi Cantonment railway station, which would also have been packed at that time of day.

One of the blasts was in the ticket hall, the other went off in a train carriage.

It was not clear how many casualties there were at each site.

There were unconfirmed reports that more bombs had been found and defused at a restaurant and at one of the ghats, the bathing platforms where Hindu pilgrims immerse themselves in the holy waters of the Ganges river and cremations are carried out.

For Hindus, an attack on Varanasi is the emotional equivalent of an attack on the Vatican for Catholics.

The temple-thronged city is a major pilgrimage site.

Hindus believe it is auspicious to die or be cremated in Varanasi, and many elderly Hindus choose to live out their final years in the holy city.

Others have their bodies taken to Varanasi for cremation after their deaths.

Tuesday is the most important day of prayer at the Sankat Mochan temple, which is holy to the god Hanuman, and Hindus come from around the world to pray at the temple.

The city is also a major destination for foreign tourists, especially backpackers seeking to experience India's "spiritual" side.

There was no indications last night who was behind the bombings, but suspicions inevitably fell on Islamic militants.

India is probably facing a wider range of militants than anywhere else in the world, from tribal separatists to Maoist revolutionaries, but only Islamic militants have attacked Hindu holy sites in the past.

Tensions between Hindus and Muslims have been simmering in recent weeks in Uttar Pradesh state, where Varanasi lies.

Only last week, four people were killed in the state capital, Lucknow, when Muslim protests at President George Bush's visit turned violent.

Muslims tried to force Hindu shopkeepers to join a strike in protest at the visit.

When the Hindus refused, the two sides faced off and shots were fired.

A few weeks before, a Muslim minister in the Uttar Pradesh state government caused a furore in India when he offered a reward of £6.6m to anyone who beheaded the Danish artist who drew the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed.

The Pakistan-based Islamic militant organisations Lashkar-e Toiba and Jeish-e Mohammed were blamed for an attack on a temple in Gujarat in 2002 in which more than 30 people were killed.

Lashkar-e Toiba was also blamed for a failed attack on a disputed holy site in the city of Ayodhya last July, and for a series of bombings in Delhi last October in which 66 people were killed.

In previous years, India has reacted to similar attacks by sabre-rattling against Pakistan.

But after the July and October attacks, the Prime Minister Mr Singh was careful to avoid attaching any blame to Pakistan - a sign of how far the peace process between the two countries has come.

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