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Twin blasts kill 37 in Indian city

The software and call-center hub has a history of religious violence.

By EMILY WAX, Washington Post
Published August 26, 2007

NEW DELHI - Two bombs exploded Saturday night in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, killing at least 37 people and seriously injuring 50, officials said.

The first bomb went off just after 7:30 p.m. in an amusement park during a laser light show, killing nine people in an area filled with families.

About 10 minutes later, a second bomb tore through a popular restaurant, according to news reports. Television images showed terrified families grabbing their children and jumping over security barriers to get out while thick plumes of black smoke and dust clouded the air. Bloodied victims rushed from the scene of the attack, in the city's popular Kothi market.

"This is a terrorist act," Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister for Andhra Pradesh state, said at a televised news conference.

"We heard the blast and people started running out past us," P.K. Verghese, the security manager at the laser show, told the Associated Press. "Many of them had blood streaming off them. It was complete chaos."

Hyderabad, a city of around 6-million, has a long history of communal violence between Muslims and Hindus. On May 18, a bombing at one of India's largest and most historically important mosques, the Mecca Masjid, killed 11 people as Friday prayers were ending.

Hyderabad has recently become a symbol of India's economic boom, an increasingly cosmopolitan center and hub of software and call-center jobs. The city has a thriving Muslim quarter and is renowned as a center of Islamic culture.

Officials said the attacks on Saturday were an attempt by "antisocial elements" to spark a wave of communal violence. There was no immediate assertion of responsibility.

BOMB BLASTS

Chronology of bombings in India

Saturday: Bombs rip through crowded public areas in the southern city of Hyderabad, killing at least 37 people.

May 2007: A bomb at a historic Hyderabad mosque kills 11.

February 2007: Bombs detonate on a train headed through northern India for Pakistan, killing 68.

Sept. 2006: At least 30 are killed and 100 injured in twin blasts at a mosque in Malegaon in western India.

July 2006: Seven bombs on Mumbai commuter trains kill more than 200 and injure more than 700.

March 2006: Twin bombings at a train station and a temple in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi kill at least 20. Kashmiri militants are blamed.

Oct. 2005: Three bombs placed in busy New Delhi markets one day before a major Hindu festival kill 62 and wound hundreds. The government blames Kashmiri militants.

Aug. 2003: Two taxis packed with explosives blow up outside a tourist attraction and a busy market in Mumbai, killing 52 and wounding more than 100.

March 1993: Muslim underworld figures linked to Pakistani militants allegedly carry out a series of bombings on Mumbai's stock exchange along with trains, hotels and gas stations in the city. At least 257 are killed and more than 1,100 are wounded.

[Last modified August 26, 2007, 01:47:49]