Hyderabad, India – A pair of bombings minutes apart tore through a popular family restaurant and an outdoor arena Saturday night, killing at least 37 people in this southern Indian city plagued by Hindu-Muslim tensions.
The restaurant was destroyed by the bomb placed at the entrance. The other blast struck a laser show at an auditorium in Lumbini park, leaving dead bodies between rows of seats punctured by shrapnel. Some seats were hurled 100 feet.
“We heard the blast, and people started running out past us. Many of them had blood streaming off them,” said P.K. Verghese, security manager at the laser show. “It was complete chaos. We had to remove the security barriers so people could get out.”
Most of the dead were killed in the Gokul Chat restaurant at Hyderabad’s Kothi market, said K. Jana Reddy, the state home minister. About 50 people were injured in the two blasts.
While India often blames Muslim militants for bomb attacks, there were no immediate accusations against Islamic groups in the blasts. The two spots are popular with Hindus and Muslims.
Two other bombs were defused in the city Saturday, one under a footbridge in the busy Bilsukh Nagar commercial area, and another in a movie theater in the Narayanguba neighborhood, a police official said. Late-night movie showings were canceled across the city.
Much of India’s Hindu-Muslim animosity is rooted in disputes over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, divided between India and mostly Muslim Pakistan but claimed in its entirety by both countries.
