Hyderabad, Aug 25: In two near-simultaneous terror attacks, at least 44 people were killed and over 50 injured in two explosions at crowded Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat Bhandar here on Saturday evening, three months after the Mecca Masjid blasts.
The first blast took place at Lumbini Park open-air auditorium, opposite State Secretariat when a laser show was going on. The second blast took place at Gokul Chat shop in Koti area, 5 Km from here.
Twenty six people died and 22 wounded when an explosion ripped through Gokul Chat Shop at Koti locality at around 7.30pm, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister K Jana Reddy told reporters here.
Six people, most of them from outside the state, were killed and 13 injured in another blast five minutes earlier in an open air auditorium in Lumbini Park near the state secretariat in the heart of the city when a laser show was on, he said. The Home Minister said about 500 people were in the auditorium at the time of the incident.
The condition of 10 to 15 people in different hospitals of the city was stated to be serious.
The blast ripped through the middle row of the auditorium when the show had just begun. So powerful was the blast that some of bodies were flung into the air and lay scattered.
Gory scenes were witnessed at the blast sties with limbs, blood, clothes and shoes of the people strewn around.
Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and Police Commissoner Balwinder Singh, who both visited the blast sites, said it appeared to be a terrorist act. The Chief Minister told reporters that "it is definitely a terrorist activity."
He said government would see to it that efforts were taken to restore peace and appealed to the people to maintain calm and not spread rumours.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh said the toll at Lumbini Park, overlooking the picturesque Hussain Sagar Lake, may go up as it was teeming with week-end crowd.
A red alert was sounded across the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and neighbouring Karnataka and the national capital Delhi in the wake of the blasts.
Senior police and Central intelligence officials indicated that the explosives used in today's well-planned blasts were similar to those employed in Mecca Masjid explosions which claimed 14 lives in May this year.
Police cordoned off the blast sites and sounded a red alert across the city and conducted searches at railway stations and bus depots in a bid to apprehend the militants who set off the blasts.
Security in Hyderabad city has been tightened further in view of 10,000 weddings that are scheduled tomorrow.
Explosive experts visited the sites and collected samples of the materials used in the blast.
Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said the blasts were the handiwork of some terrorist group.
President, VP, PM condemn blasts
President Pratibha Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tonight condemned the Hyderabad blasts and expressed shock over the loss of innocent lives.
The President condemned the blasts, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesman said.
In his message, the Vice President expressed profound shock at the twin blasts that caused loss of innocent lives and injured many people. He also expressed sympathy for the families of those killed and injured in the blasts.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also condemned the blasts and expressed deep concern.
Sonia Gandhi spoke to the Chief Minister and asked him to take stern action against perpetrators of the blasts.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Shivraj Patil is to visit Hyderabad tomorrow.
Bureau Report