37 killed in Malegaon blasts

Curfew in town; India says cross-border terrorism could hurt dialogue with Pak.

In a suspected terror strike in Malegaon, 37 people were killed and over 100 injured in three blasts, including one in a mosque-cum-graveyard where hundreds of Muslims had gathered to offer Friday prayers and remember the dead on the occasion of Shab-e-Barat.

Paramilitary forces were deployed and curfew imposed in this communally sensitive town after the near-simultaneous blasts in the busy Mushaira Chowk and Ayesha Nagar around 1:45 pm.

"Blood and other facilities are being arranged for the injured. We are trying to rush as much help from Mumbai as possible," sources in the local administration said.

Tempers flared up after the blasts and some angry locals stopped police from approaching the site of the blasts. Some shops in nearby areas were also damaged, police sources said.

Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil, who visited the blast sites, said 37 people were killed.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil did not rule out terrorist hand behind the blasts. "Such incidents do not take place on their own. Someone triggers it. We all know who they are," he said in Delhi.

Patil said the "bigger design" of those behind the blasts was to see that different sections of the society clash and create more turmoil.

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 injured.

Local administration officials said over 100 injured were rushed to the Wadia hospital and other hospitals in the town while some seriously wounded were shifted to Nashik, about 100 km from here.

Maharashtra DGP P S Pasricha said it was too early to link the blasts with the July 11 serial blasts in Mumbai or the explosions at Nanded and Parbhani last year. He appealed to the people of Maharashtra to be more vigilant to avert such incidents.

The blasts found an echo in Indo-Pak relations with India making it clear that resumption of foreign secretary-level talks will depend on Islamabad's willingness to end cross-border terrorism and "satisfactory" outcome of the next week's meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

"Both leaders are conscious of the importance of the Indo-Pak relations and are committed to taking forward the dialogue and peace process. But at the same time, there is a recognition that unless the issue of terrorism is addressed in a substantive way, it will be difficult to ensure the success of the dialogue process," Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said.