India suspects terrorism in deadly bombings

NEW DELHI, India – A series of bombings rocked a packed railway station and crowded Hindu temple Tuesday in the holy city of Varanasi, officials said, killing at least 20 people and injuring dozens in an attack that raised fears of communal violence.

Cities across India were put on high alert as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed for calm, said his spokesman, Sanjaya Baru.

“It is a terrorist attack. It has all the characteristics of a terrorist attack,” Alok Sinha, the top home ministry official for Uttar Pradesh state, told the Associated Press. “We are not sure about the group involved.”

The attacks, which injured at least 62 people, came only days after Hindus and Muslims fought in the streets of Lucknow, leaving four people dead, during a visit to India by President Bush. The next day, angry Hindus looted Muslim shops and burned vehicles in the coastal resort of Goa in a dispute over a mosque demolition.

It was unclear whether Tuesday’s bombings in Varanasi, 450 miles east of New Delhi, were the work of anti-government or anti-Hindu militant groups or were connected to Bush’s visit.

At least 10 people died in what appeared to be two bombings at Varanasi’s train station, and five were killed in another blast at the temple on the banks of the holy Ganges River, Sinha said. Five additional people died overnight of their injuries, Superintendent of Police Paresh Pandey told the Associated Press.

Another senior official, Kamlesh Pathak, said two unexploded bombs – one hidden in a pressure cooker and the other in a backpack – were found at Varanasi’s Godowalia Market and defused by police.

The Press Trust of India news agency, meanwhile, reported that security officials found four unexploded bombs at a bathing platform on the banks of the Ganges, a few miles away.

The blast at the Sankat Mochan temple went off near dusk, when the shrine was crowded with Hindus making special Tuesday offerings to the monkey-god Hanuman, said police inspector Madan Mohan Pande.

At least 22 people were wounded in the temple blast, police said.