Bomb blast hits revered Ajmer Sharif shrine, October 11, 2007 Options

[VAMAN]

Bomb kills two at Ajmer Sharif dargah

By Reuters
Thursday October 11, 11:05 PM

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A small bomb exploded just after evening prayers at the famous Ajmer Sharif shrine in Rajasthan on Thursday, killing at least two people and wounding 17, according to police and officials.

The blast occurred at around 6.15 p.m. just outside the shrine, or dargah, in Ajmer just before the end of the Ramadan fasting month.

Around 200 people were in and around the shrine at the time, many breaking their fast after prayers, police said. The bomb had been placed under a tree.

"A big crowd had gathered outside the main shrine to break their fast," Lalit Maheswari, additional police chief for Ajmer told Reuters. "The bomb was placed in a bag."

"We have recovered some mobile instruments, so we think some sophisticated device was used, but an investigation is going on."

Television pictures showed a man being stretchered from the site with his clothes apparently torn from his body and what appeared to be a corpse with his eyes open.

"There was total chaos, people were rushed to the hospital," Furkan Ali Chishty Niazi, an official from the dargah told Reuters by telephone.

Local city official Naveen Mahajan said two people had died, 17 were wounded, and one was in critical condition.

"We have cordoned off the area, and a bomb squad team is searching the dargah premises," he told Reuters.

The shrine, which contains the tomb of the Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisty, is one of the most important pilgrimage sites for Muslims in India.

Hindus and Sikhs also visit the shrine, which lies some 350 km southwest of New Delhi, and is seen as a symbol of communal harmony.

Pakistani leaders, including Pervez Musharraf, Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq and Benazir Bhutto, have all visited the shrine during state visits, which has also attracted Bollywood stars like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

Shortly afterwards, in disputed Kashmir, at least two suspected Muslim militants stormed a police camp in Srinagar, firing guns and throwing grenades, police said.

The gunbattle was still continuing and there were no further details, they added.

Source - http://in.news.yahoo.com/071011/137/6ltth.html

[VAMAN]

Ajmer bomb was inside a tiffin box
12 Oct 2007, 0015 hrs IST,Prakash Bhandari,TNN

JAIPUR: Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta, who called an emergency meeting after the Ajmer attack, said that all states have been asked to step up vigil in the festive season.

Sources at the Centre said that the needle of suspicion pointed to terror architects blamed for the Hyderabad and Malegoan attacks.

They said Lashkar-e-Taiba was a clear suspect since it was now collaborating with groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad and HuJI for specific operations. These groups are also known for their hatred of sects of Islam which don't subscribe to the hardline Sunni doctrine.

The Ajmer bomb was packed inside a tiffin box, obviously smuggled into the dargah complex by one or more terrorists posing as devotees, a Rajasthan police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said that prima facie it appeared to be similar, albeit weaker, to the bombs used in the Hyderabad blasts.

"Initially, people mistook the blast for the mock cannon fire that signals 'iftaar'. But soon I realised what had happened. I saw smoke and dust engulfing the dargah and two people lying dead," said Syed Shahnawaz Chisti, a member of the dargah management committee.

Mahajan, the district magistrate, said the blast occurred at a place where Muslim women devotees gather to offer prayers.

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

[VAMAN]

Saturday, October 13, 2007 (16:47:44)

'Ajmer blast has foreign links'
Shivraj Patil

Ajmer: Home Minister Shivraj Patil said on Saturday that the bomb blast at Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti's shrine in Ajmer, which killed two people appeared to have "links across the border". Without naming any group or country, Patil told a press conference, "The investigations point to (terrorist) links across the border. Please don't ask the police to reveal details of the investigation," he went on. "When the probe is complete, the details will be revealed. The investigation is going as far as our borders."

Rajasthan Police sources said six people, including two Bangladeshis, had been detained for questioning following the Thursday blast that killed two people and injured nearly 20. It was the first terror attack at the dargah, South Asia's top-most symbol of syncretism that draws millions of Muslims and non-Muslims every year from India and abroad.

The sources said that a mobile telephone with a SIM card was used as a trigger for the explosives planted in the shrine premises. Investigators are looking into the involvement of the Harkat ul Jihadi Islami (HuJI), a Bangladesh-based terrorist outfit. On Friday, the police recovered a live bomb from near the main gate of the shrine, which appeared to be similar to the one that went off Thursday evening. It was defused.

The Ajmer administration has decided not to provide compensation to the family of one of the victims, Salim, who was a resident of Hyderabad, after the police found some suspicious material in his pocket. Salim had made Ajmer his home around nine years ago. He used to sell bangles near the shrine. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had announced a compensation of Rs 500,000 for the families of those killed in the blast and Rs 100,000 for the seriously injured. (IANS)

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