(Repeating DI 42, with corrections in first para)

New Delhi, Sep 8 (UNI) The Centre has strongly condemned the blasts in Malegaon district of Maharashtra, which claimed 30 lives and left nearly 50 people injured , and said that the situation is tense but under control.

Condemning the blasts, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said that they were meant to cause communal disturbance in the state. Mr Patil has spoken to the political leadership of the state and would visit the blasts sites tomorrow.

Condemning the blasts at Mushaira Chowk and outside the Kabristan that claimed lives of ''innocent, unsuspecting, vulnerable people,'' Home Secretary V K Duggal told mediapersons that four companies of Special Reserve Police have been dispatch to Malegaon by the Maharashtra Government and two more are likely to be sent.

He said that till now nobody has claimed responsibility for these blasts. Asked whether it was a terror attack, he said that at present, he could not say so as no one has claimed responsibility for these blasts.

The Centre has already sent 20 battalions of CRPF and six of RAF to assist the state in case of possibility of any ''problem emerging'' in the aftermath of the blasts held on the occasion of Shabe-Barat.

The centre has sent a detailed advisory to the state government saying that such incidents have potential of flaring up so they should take community leaders into confidence.

''We strongly condemn the blasts on the occasion of Shabe-Barat' which targeted innocent people, and them a target of violence -- uncalled for violence,'' Mr Duggal said, adding that in such a situation, it was normal and natural for the people to be agitated.

Mr Duggal, who has been constantly in touch with the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police of Maharashtra, has emphasised that the situation needs to be handled with tact and care and not allowed to exacerbate further.

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