Bomb attacks in Indian Mosque: Whose interests are being served?

New York Times, April 15, 2006
Bombs Strike Revered Indian Mosque and City in Kashmir By HARI KUMAR and SOMINI SENGUPTA

NEW DELHI, April 14 — A pair of homemade bombs exploded in the courtyard of the capital's most important mosque on Friday evening, injuring 13 worshipers but not inflicting the kind of carnage and chaos that have accompanied previous attacks in this country.

The mosque bombing coincided with a far bloodier incident on Friday in disputed Kashmir, where apparently coordinated grenade attacks killed 5 civilians and injured 17 people, including members of the Indian paramilitary forces. The grenades were lobbed at crowded business and tourist districts in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.

The police said the bombs in New Delhi at the 17th-century Jama Masjid, in one of the most densely packed quarters of the city, were "low intensity" explosive devices. Most of the injuries were minor.

The mosque's head cleric quashed the attempts of some who had gathered before the TV news cameras to shout political slogans. "This is the time to stay calm and let the police do their work," the cleric, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, told the private CNN-IBN television network.

The twin blasts come five weeks after more intense, better-coordinated explosions in eastern Varanasi, the holiest city in Hindu cosmology. The Varanasi bombs left a death toll of 14 and rattled a nation that has suffered numerous paroxysms of Hindu-Muslim strife. On Friday evening, Mr. Bukhari blamed both bombing incidents on forces bent on sowing strife between Indian Hindus and Muslims.

For the last few months, he said, an effort had been made to stir violence in India, adding, "The people who do these things, they do not belong to any religion."

The bombs were in two shopping bags, both placed in the courtyard of the mosque. The late afternoon prayers had just finished, witnesses said, when they heard a loud bang followed by smoke. The first bomb went off around 5:30, when 500 worshipers were at the mosque and less than two hours before evening prayers, which went ahead as scheduled. The second blast came about 10 minutes later. The police offered no clues about who was responsible for the explosions.

Indian officials in Srinagar blamed militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir for the grenade attacks there. Some militant groups issued statements condemning the attacks, which they described as attempts to undermine their campaign.

There was no evidence of links between the New Delhi and Srinagar attacks. Since 1989 Kashmir has been in the grip of a separatist insurgency, which India says is backed by Pakistan. Peace talks between India and Pakistan, which both claim the territory, have reduced violence.

Yusuf Jameel contributed reporting from Srinagar for this article.