Security alert sounded in Varanasi following bomb threat

Varanasi, June 11 (UNI) A security alert was sounded in the holy city, following information about suspected youths carrying some explosives in a bag.

Senior Police Superintendent Ashutosh Pandey told UNI here this evening, that the Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police recieved a phone call today about three youths suspectedly moving with explosives in the city. The call further claimed that the explosives were meant to cause some harm to the sensitive Gyanwapi-Kashi Vishwanath complex.

Taking serious note of the phone call, the information about which was passed to the police by the STF, a general security alert was sounded in a major part of the city, that was rocked by twin blasts on March seven last, Mr Pandey added.

Vehicle checks were conducted in areas spanning from Kotwali, Gyanwapi, Dwashashamedh to the Sankatmochan temple along with stepped up vigilance in the concerned areas, the SSP added.

As many as 18 people were killed and over hundred others wounded, in twin blasts that rocked the Sankatmochan temple and Varanasi Cantonment railway station on March seven last.

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