Hyderabad, February 22, 2013- After a long lull, terrorists struck in Hyderabad with three bomb explosions in the thickly populated Dilsukhnagar area, killing at least 15 persons and injuring more than 80 on Thursday evening. Unofficially, 22 persons were killed in the blasts. A fourth bomb was defused.
Although no group claimed the responsibility for the blasts the use of bombs mounted on cycles had the imprint of Indian Mujahideen. There was no official word on who was behind the blasts, either.
The state police department put forth the preliminary toll at 11. “The condition of another seven to eight persons is said to be highly critical,” Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy told media persons late in the night.
Busy zone
The blasts took place at two places within a distance of 100-120 metres at Dilsukhnagar on the National Highway No. 9. It is an extremely busy commercial zone with several shopping malls, cinema theatres, hospitals and educational institutions. Both the locations are exactly on the other side of the Dilsukhnagar bus terminus, which is a major junction carrying buses to coastal Andhra region, apart from different parts of the city. The upcoming Hyderabad Metro Rail Project work is also in full swing in the area.
According to eye-witness accounts, the first blast took place at around 6.58 pm at a snack kiosk in front of Anand Tiffin Centre, an eatery located close to Konark theatre adjacent to the traffic circle, referred to as Rajiv Gandhi Chowk. Even before the people and the passersby could realise what exactly had happened, there were two other loud explosions in a span of one minute at around 7.01 pm at a bus stand adjacent to Venkatadri theatre. The bus stand, where the passengers were waiting to return to their homes, was blown off completely and body parts of victims went flying into the air.
“I was standing on the other side of the road waiting for a bus when I heard the bomb explode. The sound was so deafening that I could not understand what was going on. I jumped over the road divider and reached the spot only to find bloodsoaked bodies strewn all around and others writhing in pain. It was then I realised that there was a bomb explosion. Immediately, with the help of the others, we stopped a few auto rickshaws and sent the injured to the Yashoda Hospital,” a local businessman Shivaji told Mail Today.Raju, another eye-witness said he had seen the mangled bodies of three girls at the bus stand, where the blast took place.
“It was all blood and gore in the area and the scene was horrific. I had to pick up courage and shift the bodies into private vehicles to be taken to Osmania Hospital,” he said.Within minutes of the incident, the police reached the spot and cordoned off the area. “We got the information that there were three more bombs planted in the locality and we immediately called for the bomb squad to search for them,” a police official said..
According to the preliminary investigation, the bombs were mounted on bicycles – one behind the bus stand and another near the Tiffin Centre, a kiosk selling tea and snacks. Both the bicycles were mangled completely. The LPG cylinder at the snack kiosk also exploded due to the blast. The intensity of the explosion was so strong that the glass panes of the adjacent shopping malls were broken to pieces.
While some of those who got injured were rushed to Osmania Hospital, others were taken to nearby corporate and other private hospitals. The condition of several of them is said to be very serious.
‘No signs of sophistication’B. Raman, additional secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, said, “I do not so far see any sign of sophistication in the assembly of the IEDs and the synchronisation of the blasts. There are no reports of any crater on the ground. If a powerful explosive material had been used, there would have been craters at the place where the IEDs had been placed.”
Pieces of flesh strewn all around & people wailing“My brother went to the other side of the road to buy footwear. He has not returned so far. He is also not responding to my calls. Where has he gone?” Lakshmaiah, a private employee, was asking the police at Dilsukhnagar, an hour after three bomb explosions ripped through the area on Thursday evening.
Lakshmaiah, who belonged to Timmapur village of Karimnagar district, said his brother Mahesh (32) had crossed the road to reach a footwear shop adjacent to Venkatadri theatre. “He told me to wait for some time. Both of us were planning to return home by an autorickshaw. In the meantime, loud explosions took place. I don’t know what happened to him,” he said crying loudly.
Babu Rao, a local Lok Satta Party leader, was one of the first few people who reached the spot. “I was just going to Shirdi Sai Baba temple, a furlong away. As I was walking through, I heard the explosions. Immediately, I rushed to the spot only to find pieces of flesh strewn all around. Several people were seriously injured crying for help. I tried to shift as many people as possible to the nearby Omni Hospital,” he said.Two youths from Adilabad district, Vijay and Rajasekhar, who were taking coaching for the sub-inspector recruitment test in Dilsukhnagar and were having snacks at a kiosk near Anand tiffin centre at the time of the blasts, died on the spot.
