By IANS
Hyderabad : About 70 people remained in hospitals here Sunday as the death toll from the worst terror blasts in this southern city overnight mounted to 42.
The near simultaneous blasts at Lumbini Park near the state secretariat and at Gokul Chat, a famous eatery, killed several people instantly while others succumbed to their injuries in hospitals, where doctors said many were still in critical condition.
Hyderabad, an IT hub and one of the fastest developing cities of India, remained shell-shocked – even a day after the worst terror attacks in its history.
Both the Lumbini Park and a famous food joint were as usual teeming with weekend crowds when the powerful blasts went off, snuffing out the lives of many unsuspecting people including students and tourists.
While one blast ripped through an open air auditorium at Lumbini Park on the banks of picturesque Hussain Sagar Lake in the heart of the city at 7.45 pm, three minutes later and five kilometers away another blast rocked Gokul Chat, a fast food joint at Koti, a busy commercial hub.
Officials said the blast at Gokul Chat claimed 32 lives while the one at the park killed 10 people. The dead include eight women and two children.
Police officials and doctors warned that the toll could go up further as the condition of many of the injured in different hospitals was stated to be critical.
Hours after the blasts, two unexploded bombs were recovered – one at Mosarambagh and another at a cinema theatre in Dilsukhnagar. This, police said, indicates that there was a conspiracy to cause large-scale mayhem.
Both the blast sites presented terrible sights in the immediate wake of the explosions. Bodies were strewn around. The heads of a few were severed while some bodies were disfigured.
Pieces of human flesh, blood stains, footwear as well as plates and other utensils were found strewn all over Gokul Chat.
There were heart-rending scenes at the government-run Osmania Hospital where 32 bodies were brought. Wailing relatives of the victims anxiously looked for their loves ones among dozens of bodies. Even onlookers wept.
All but four bodies brought to the hospital were identified. Twelve bodies were handed over to their relatives after autopsy.
The situation in this Andhra Pradesh capital remained tense but peaceful. No untoward incident was reported from any part of the city, though a mob staged a demonstration soon after the blast in Koti.
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and a team of officials from his ministry are expected to visit Hyderabad Sunday. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy has convened an all-party meeting.
An alert has been sounded across Andhra Pradesh. Police have beefed up security at vital installations, places of worship and public places.
Additional security measures have been made for some 30,000 weddings taking place across the state Sunday, which many consider an auspicious day.
The latest attacks came after the May blasts at the historic Mecca Masjid that killed nine worshippers, with the police firing that followed claiming five more lives.
The Saturday blasts have proved wrong those who had dismissed the mosque blast as an isolated incident. They have also raised serious questions about the efficiency of the intelligence machinery because there are indications that the same terror group involved in the Mecca Majsid blast could be behind attacks Saturday.
The Saturday bombings did not appear to target a particular community as both Hindus and Muslims frequent the two places. The dead included people from both communities.
“Bomb blasts are the cruelest act against humanity. The perpetrators of such an act can have no religion or ideological or national identities. They can be best described as traitors to humanity,” the chief minister said.
The 400-year-old city witnessed many communal riots during the 1970s and 80s but has remained by and large peaceful since 1990.
In the last 10 to 12 years, the city of six million people emerged as a major technological hub with many software giants setting up their shops here.
The city expanded rapidly with a boom in a real estate and the growth of IT sector above the national average.