Serial blasts rock UP courts, 15 killed

Police say an email warning TV channels of the blasts in three cities was sent from a Delhi cyber cafe, reports Tushar Srivastava.

An email warning television news channels of the serial bomb blasts in three cities of Uttar Pradesh on Friday was sent from a cyber cafe in east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar area, police and intelligence sources told the Hindustan Times. The mail with the header ‘Indian Mujahideen’, was sent from the ID guru_alhindi@yahoo.fr. It said “within minutes” lawyers would be attacked.

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Intelligence agencies have tracked down the cyber café and were questioning the owner till late in the night.

The near-simultaneous blasts in court premises in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow, that killed 15 people and injured over 70 others, targeted lawyers, sources said.

On November 17, lawyers of the session court in Lucknow beat up three Jaish-e-Mohammad militants who had planned to kidnap Rahul Gandhi. Lawyers of the state had also refused to represent Wali Ullah, mastermind of the March 2006 blasts at the Sankat Mochan temple in Banaras as also Jalaluddin Molla, a key Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami (HuJI) militant arrested in the state in June.

In Varanasi, three blasts killed 11 and injured 45 people. Four persons were killed and 14 injured in the Faizabad explosions.

In Lucknow, there was only one blast, but thankfully, it failed to kill or even injure any one. The terrorists struck between 1.10 and 1.30, peak hour in the courts.

In the past six months, the Uttar Pradesh police have seized 21 kg of explosives, including 11 kg of RDX (an essential base for military blasting devices).

The biggest haul of 7 kg came on June 21 following the arrest of two alleged HuJI operatives, Mohammed Yakub and Nasir, in Bijnore district.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, however, said in the Lok Sabha that no terrorist group had claimed responsibility for the attacks.

(With inputs from M Hasan in Lucknow)