Western India tense over blasts on Navratri eve

Malegaon/Modasa, Sep 30 (UNI) Two powerful motorcycle explosions on the eve of Navratri and Ramzan celebrations left seven killed, including one in police firing and 122 others injured in remote towns of Malegaon and Modasa in Western India last night.

While five people, including one in police firing, were killed and 112 injured in a powerful blast late last night at Malegaon in Nashik district of Maharashtra, two persons were killed and ten injured in a blast in a market place in Modasa town in Gujarat.

The blast in Malegaon took place when the motorcycle to which a high intensity crude bomb had been fixed was triggered by a timer, killing four people on the spot and injuring several others. A strong mob later threw stones at the police, which came to the scene on hearing about the blast. Police in self defence fired eight rounds, injuries one person who later succumbed.

Police said in all 112, including 30 police men and homeguards were injured in the incident.

Even as the Maharashtra and Gujarat police have further fortified the security arrangements for the peaceful celebrations of Navratri, eight activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were rounded up by police in connection with the Modasa blast. Modasa Deputy Superintendent of Police K K Mysorewala told UNI that the bomb was placed in a parked motorcycle in a congested area of the town, which went off at around 2130 hrs.

MORE Team/VK RN Mir AS1817