NASHIK, India, 9 September 2006 — Three bomb blasts erupted yesterday among thousands of Muslims in the western Indian town of Malegaon. At least 40 were killed and 200 injured, many seriously, in the attacks planned to coincide with the observance of Shab-e-Baraat (Night of Salvation). The death toll is expected to rise.
"It was one of the most horrible scenes that I have ever witnessed," said Asif Shaikh, a trader from Malegaon, who described people trampling over the dead an injured in an attempt to flee the scene. Some people were killed due to the mob rush.
Authorities in different Indian cities, including New Delhi, were put on high alert. State Director General of Police Pavender Singh Pasricha told media from his office in Bombay, the capital of Maharashtra state where Malegaon is located, that authorities haven't ruled out communal unrest as the motive for the attacks.
Pasricha said that Malegaon was a "communally sensitive" town, and that the terror acts might have carried out by local miscreants seeking to create communal tension.
Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister RR Patil — who was in Pune at the time of the attacks — left immediately for Malegaon to assess the situation.
The serial blasts occurred as more than 5,000 Muslims trooped out of the Jama Mosque toward the graveyard after the Friday prayers. Local officials told the media that the first blast occurred at 1:50 p.m. near the mosque. The other bomb one went off eight minutes later in the graveyard. Then, two minutes later a third explosion was reported near Tipu Tower, a well-known local landmark.
Authorities also reportedly confiscated two other unexploded bombs that were found near the graveyard strapped to a motorbike that had the word "Raj" painted on it. The police cordoned off the blast sites and the federal government dispatched 20 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force and six companies of the Rapid Action Force.
The injured and dead were taken to the nearby Dhule district hospital. Others were taken to Nashik and Bombay.
An angry mob clashed with authorities and damaged vehicles after the explosions. Police disperse the mob and were seen discharging weapons into the air. A curfew was imposed yesterday preventing congregations of more than five people. The volume of incoming and outgoing calls to the town stymied landline and mobile communications.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the terrorist acts and appealed to the people to maintain calm and harmony. Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil deploring the bomb blasts appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony. Patil is scheduled for today to visit Malegaon, a predominantly Muslim town known for its textile industry.
Malegaon has been prone to frequent communal riots since the 1920s. Members of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) have clashed with local authorities and police recently found weapons and explosive caches allegedly belonging to SIMI militants.
Some federal and state government officials were seen on television blaming the blasts on the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI.
As a precautionary measure, the police beefed up security at the headquarters of the Hindu militant organization Rashtriya Sewak Sangh (RSS) in Nagpur. State Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh called for an emergency meeting of the Cabinet last night to discuss the situation in Malegaon.
Federal home secretary VK Duggal speaking to the media said the federal government was in touch with the state government. He said that he had spoken to Police Inspector General PK Jain of Nashik Range and Police Superintendent Nashik Rajvardhan who informed him that the situation was tense but under control.
