An uneasy calm prevailed in India’s southern city of Hyderabad on Saturday as thousands of police patrolled the streets a day after a bomb blast in a mosque and subsequent clashes killed at least 14.
Ten people died in the explosion that took place during Friday prayers at the sprawling 17th century Mecca Masjid. Police later shot dead four people in clashes with hundreds of enraged Muslims who went on a rampage in protest at the attack.
Police said on Saturday the bomb appeared to be the handiwork of ”terrorists” but gave no details.
Bombing mosques is a recent development in India’s security scenario. Two explosions occurred last year — at a mosque in Malegaon in western India in which 32 people were killed, and at the Jama Masjid in New Delhi.
Investigating agencies and analysts have said members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi) could have been behind these blasts in coordination with Pakistan-based militant groups.
The aim, they say, is to trigger communal clashes in India which, while more than 80% Hindu, has the world’s third biggest Muslim population after Indonesia and Pakistan.
”At this juncture there is nothing to suggest there is any deviation from past incidents,” said Ajai Sahni, executive director of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management.
Same groups?
”Consequently, we will have to assume it is the same groups which were responsible for Malegaon and Jama Masjid. The objective remains the same — to create suspicion that the attack was by Hindus and create a Hindu-Muslim polarisation and violence.”
The streets of Hyderabad, capital of the coastal state of Andhra Pradesh and a major IT hub, were deserted on Saturday in response to a strike call from a popular Muslim group.
Police fanned out in Muslim-dominated quarters of the city to prevent a repeat of the riots that unfolded after Friday’s blast, when the estimated 8 000 worshippers in the mosque poured out and attacked anything that came their way.
Protests spread to other parts of the city, with agitated mobs stoning buses and petrol stations, and attacking bank teller machines and shops.
Twelve of the 50 people admitted to hospital were children.
At the Mecca Masjid, at least 100 worshippers quietly gathered for morning prayers on Saturday.
”We cannot stop the prayers for anything in this mosque,” said Maulana Khalliluddin, one of the mosque clerics.
Burial processions were likely later in the day.
”It appears to be an act of terrorists,” city police chief Balwinder Singh said, adding that high-voltage explosives stuffed in steel pipes had been packed in steel containers along with a mobile phone.
One such container exploded when a call was made to the phone. Two other devices were discovered later — one 100m from the blast site and the other hanging at the entrance to the mosque. — Reuters