Blast rocks Varanasi

18-month-old baby girl killed; foreigners among 24 injured

The blast that occurred a little after 6:30 pm created panic among the people assembled to witness the “Ganga aarti” and also resulted in the collapse of a railing injuring many people, reports said.

It being Tuesday, the day of Lord Hanuman and considered  auspicious by Hindus, a special “maha aarti” was held at the ghat and the number of people attending it was also more than usual, reports said. “The obvious aim was to cause as much casualty as possible,” said a police official. Official sources said the explosion was of “medium intensity.”  According to eyewitnesses, it was a powerful blast.  “The impact of the blast was felt by nearby buildings situated on the ghat  and up to 500 metres,” the eyewitnesses said.

Police officials also refused to speculate about the nature of the explosives used to trigger the blast. “We are in the process of investigating the nature of the blast. Anything concrete can be said only after the completion of the investigation,”  Varanasi Inspector General of Police R  P Singh said.

He also refused to specify any terrorist organisation responsible for the blast. “The blast is the handiwork of  anti-national elements,” Singh said. According to some reports, the bomb was kept in a milk can on the left side of the ghat while some others claimed that it was  in a black bag. Police officials said the device was concealed in a crevice on the steps leading to the river.

The baby, identified as  Swastika Sharma, died in hospital. The injured were admitted to various  hospitals in the temple town.

The condition of one of them, a foreigner, is said to be serious, sources said.
According to the eye witnesses, the blast caused a stampede and people started running helter-skelter.

Some people were injured in the stampede.  Utter chaos prevailed at the blast site. The injured were taken to hospitals by the local people on “thelas” (a wooden rickshaw like structure used for selling goods by the street vendors).

The entire area was cordoned off. A state of high alert was sounded in the city. Security was beefed up at all sensitive places, including the famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Sankat Mochan.

A bomb disposal squad was rushed to the spot.  Sniffer dogs were also pressed into service to look for more bombs in the vicinity, the sources said. Some reports said the two improvised explosive devices were seized from a dustbin at the blast site but it could not be immediately confirmed.