14 killed, 119 injured in Indian Hyderabad blasts

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Twin bombings in a busy shopping area of Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad have killed 14 people and wounded 119, Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said on Friday.

“The total dead are 14, total injured is 119. Out of this six are critical,” Shinde said at a press conference in the city after visiting the blast sites. He said that investigation has started and the government will not leave any stone unturned.

Replying to a query about inputs suggesting that a blast might take place in Hyderabad, he said there was no specific alert and only a general alert was issued to the states.
To another query about the involvement of group in the blast, he said such things can’t be said at the moment.

Two powerful near simultaneous blasts had ripped through a crowded area close to a cluster of bus stands in Dilsukhnagar area on Thursday.

The blasts triggered by Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) tied to two bicycles took place at two sites 100 metres apart outside a roadside eatery near Konark and Venkatadri theatres in the area located on the Hyderabad-Vijaywada national highway in Cyberabad police limits.

DGP Reddy had said it was “definitely the handiwork of a terrorist network” and IEDs were used in the attack.

The police said the first bomb exploded at around 7.01pm in front of Anand Tiffin Centre near the Konark theatre. Another bomb went off after a few minutes at a foot-over bridge near the Venkatadri theatre, just 150 metres away.

Dilsukhnagar, in the eastern part of Hyderabad, is an education and commercial hub with hundreds of computer coaching institutions, theatres and fruit and wholesale grain markets nearby. There is also a temple is in the vicinity where devotees gather on Thursdays.

Counter-terrorism investigators say that Thursday’s serial blasts in Hyderabad carry the fingerprint of Indian Mujahideen.

The use of cycles, ball bearings and timers have made investigators link the attack with last August’s failed Pune serial blasts and IM co-founder Riyaz Bhatkal engineered multiple blasts at Lumbini Park laser show and Gokul Chaat Bhandar in Hyderabad in August 2007.

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