Ajmer blast

JAIPUR: A bomb blast just outside the sanctum sanctorum of India’s best known Sufi shrine at Ajmer killed at least two worshippers on Thursday and left 17 wounded, police and eyewitnesses said. The terror strike just ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr weekend came days after Union home minister Shivraj Patil had warned of a possible attack during this year’s festive season. The bomb was hidden inside a tiffin box and placed in the main courtyard called Aasthan-e-Noor, just outside the 750-year-old mausoleum of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, the Sufi shrine revered not only by Muslims in South Asia but people of all faiths. Police said the explosive wasn’t very powerful but had an impact because the dargah was packed with people gathered for prayers before breaking their roza. The time of the blast was put at 6.05pm. No damage to the building was reported, said Ajmer’s district collector Naveen Mahajan. Rajasthan government’s principal secretary V S Singh confirmed the two deaths. One of the injured was in a critical state, he said. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast. But the Union home ministry confirmed that it was indeed a terror attack. Big cities, including New Delhi and Mumbai, were put on red alert on Thursday evening after the Ajmer blast. The attack follows a pattern of terror groups picking festive periods and targeting Muslims. The latest was the Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad, now conclusively blamed on the Bangladesh-based and ISI-linked Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HUJI), during packed Friday prayers and before that, the Malegaon blast on Shabb-e-Barat night, when Muslims gather to pay homage to their ancestors.