Serial bombs kill at least 13 outside three Indian courts

Serial bombs kill at least 13 outside three Indian courts

	Published : Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:11 By : Agencies Print this Story

NEW DELHI (Thomson Financial) - A series of near-simultaneous blasts on Friday outside courts in three Indian cities left at least 13 people dead and more than 40 wounded in what police called a terror attack on lawyers.

Nine people were killed, including three lawyers, in the holiest Hindu city of Varanasi and four more people died in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh state home secretary J.N. Chamber told Agence France-Presse.

'This a terrorist attack on the advocates of our state,' additional director-general of police Brij Lal said by telephone from the state capital Lucknow.

Uttar Pradesh police chief Vikram Singh said the bombs were transported to the courthouses of Varanasi -- where a string of powerful explosions killed 23 people in March 2006 -- Faizabad and Lucknow by bicycles which were then abandoned.

'We have issued an alert all over the state after the blasts, which might have been planned to create an atmosphere of terror,' Singh said. He added that reinforcements were being deployed to prevent a possible public backlash.

Secretary Chamber said three blasts were reported from Varanasi and two each in Lucknow and Faizabad.

Twenty-two people were hurt in Varanasi, 14 more in a 'shed' used by lawyers at Faizabad courthouse and another five in Lucknow, Chamber said.

The attacks came a week after the Uttar Pradesh bar council unanimously decided not to defend Islamist militants facing charges in the state.

India's junior home minister said Friday's blasts looked to be acts of terror.

'The fact that three blasts took place at the same time ...it is clear that it is a conspiracy,' Sriprakash Jaiswal told reporters in New Delhi.

'The motive could be to spread terror.'

Analysts say Islamic extremist groups are attempting to stoke sectarian tensions to derail an India-Pakistan peace process and damage the country's booming economy.

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