Bomb hits historic mosque
At least seven people have been killed in a bomb explosion at a historic mosque in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, the authorities say. Dozens more were hurt in the blast during Friday prayers at the Mecca Masjid, one of India’s biggest mosques.
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Police say they also found and defused two live bombs near the mosque. It is not clear who carried out the attack. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attack and urged citizens “to maintain peace and communal harmony” [BBC News, hat tip: Raz]
Utterly senseless and disgraceful; I hope no riots ensue from this incident. I visited that Mecca Masjid in 2002 when backpacking around India and found it really nice. For the brief time I was there I struck up a conversation with a chap who visited it regularly. He was Hindu. His dad had been admitted to the hospital opposite and he used to come to the masjid to pray after visiting. I yearn for spaces and people like that where religion isn’t so politicised and all about hate.
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Filed in: India, Religion
According to the updated BBC report, several more people have been killed after police opened fire on people protesting after the bombing.
“Four people were killed when police fired to control a mob which was trying to burn a petrol pump in a congested locality.”
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/05_2007/blast-at-crowed-mosque-in-hyderabad-40838.html
We can only hope that India’s Muslims do not react violently to this. Last time, with the Maharashtra mosque bombing, there were few reprisals afterwards.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/5329586.stm
Apparently the worshippers did go on a rampage afterwards.
India are saying it’s the work of Islamic extremists trying to incite sectarian violence
Wonder if this fits into Pickled Politics’ narrative: A Pakistani secular party responsible for violence and for propping up a dictator: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2007/05/friday_18_may_2007.html
or a Bangladeshi secular party with a long history of street violence, on its way to authoritarian government: http://disha-bangladesh.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html