Blast at Indian Mosque Kills 10, Injures 55

Attack in Southern City of Hyderabad Sparks Deadly Riots by Muslims Protesting Lack of Security

NEW DELHI, May 18 -- A bomb exploded outside one of India's largest and most sacred mosques Friday, killing 10 people and seriously injuring 55, officials said.

The explosion at the expansive Mecca Masjid, in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, occurred at 1:30 p.m. as crowded Friday prayers were ending, witnesses said. The bomb was detonated in the entrance of the marble-floored mosque, where worshipers wash for prayers. About 10,000 people were attending services at the time.

Two unexploded bombs were defused by police, Indian television and wire services reported. According to police, the mosque's heavy stone saved more people from being killed.

Witnesses said that waves of people pelted police officers with stones, chanting angrily that there was a lack of security for Muslims in this majority-Hindu country. Television images showed police in riot gear dispersing crowds of men and boys in white prayer caps, spraying tear gas and, in some cases, beating people back with batons to make room for the wounded to be treated.

At least three other people were killed in the bedlam following the blasts, according to Indian news media reports, but what caused their deaths was unclear.

"There were people running every which way, and they were very angry, since the mosque is one of the most sacred in India," said Danesh Akula, bureau chief in Hyderabad for Star News, who was at the mosque shortly after the blast. "It could be a very dangerous situation."

The attack was reminiscent of one in September near a mosque in the western town of Malegaon. That incident left 31 people dead during Shab-e-Barat, or night of atonement or forgiveness, a Muslim event in which people offer prayers for the souls of dead relatives in graveyards. Last spring, two bombs exploded at New Delhi's main mosque, Jama Masjid, wounding 10 people.

There was no immediate assertion of responsibility for the attack in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh state. Some officials called the attack an attempt by "antisocial elements" to spark violence in India, which has a long history of communal strife between Hindus and Muslims.

In a statement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "urged members of all communities to maintain peace and communal harmony."

Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, said in a televised news conference that the attack was "intentional sabotage on the peace and tranquility of the state." At a time when the state was on a forward march to progress, he added, "these incidents will only hurt us."

In July, bombs exploded on seven commuter trains in Mumbai, the country's financial and cultural capital, killing more than 200 people in India's worst terrorist attack in 13 years.

India is home to the world's second-largest Muslim population. However, the estimated 145 million Muslims here are a minority in a country of 1.1 billion people, 80 percent of them Hindu.

Hyderabad has recently become a symbol of India's economic boom, an increasingly cosmopolitan center and hub of software and call-center jobs that has been dubbed "Cyberabad." The city also has a thriving Muslim quarter and is renowned as a center of Islamic culture in India.

Mecca Masjid was built with bricks made with soil from Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam. On the grounds of the mosque, Nizam Ali Khan, the famed 18th-century ruler of the city, is buried in an opulent mausoleum, along with his heirs.

"The pattern recently is to target Muslim places of worship and stir up the Muslim community," said Sandeep Unnithan, a security and terrorism analyst. "This attack was also done in Hyderabad, a world city. So it was meant to get a lot of attention. We were used to this happening in Kashmir, but not in mainland India."