30 killed in Malegaon blasts, curfew imposed

MALEGAON (MAHA): Thirty people were killed and 56 injured in twin blasts in a mosque-cum-graveyard and a market immediately after Friday prayers in this communally sensitive town of Maharashtra on Friday.

As tension gripped the textile town following the blasts at around 1:15 pm. At Bada Kabristan and Mushaira Market in the heart of the town, authorities clamped curfew and deployed State paramilitary force in sensitive areas to maintain law and order.

The blasts took place when a large number of people gathered in the graveyard to offer prayers for their dead relatives on the occasion of `Shab-e-barat', considered the holiest night under Islam.

The injured have been rushed to the Wadia hospital and other hospitals in the town while some of the grievously injured were moved to Nasik, about 100km from here, for treatment, sources said.

A near-stampede broke out immediately after the blasts as devotees, including children, rushed out of the narrow gate in panic with many of them trampling over the dead bodies and those seriously injured.

The whole area was splattered with blood and limbs. The devotees also helped the injured rush to nearby hospitals on every available mode of transport including push carts.