Six injured in Agra hospital blast
TNN | Sep 18, 2011, 05.07AM IST
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LUCKNOW: Six persons were injured in a low intensity bomb explosion at a private nursing home in Agra on Saturday evening. The place is barely 2.5kms from high-security Mughal monument Taj Mahal. MHA sources in New Delhi said it does not look like a terror attack at this point of time.
Forensic experts have recovered pieces of wire and a battery from the blast site, confirming the use of an improvised explosive device (IED). The explosive, believed to be black in colour, was placed in a bag under a bench in front of the reception counter. The condition of the wires and the battery suggested that the explosive was put together loosely. Three of the injured have received serious injuries.
UP director general of police (Special) Brij Lal said a terror connect to the blast was yet to be established. But sources in the UP Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), after examining the site, did not entirely rule out a terror angle to the incident. It was not a crudely assembled bomb. The material used for assembling the devise shows a certain level of expertise not generally found in amateurs, a senior officer told TOI on phone.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) ATS G K Goswami, who was incidentally present in Agra on Saturday, reached the blast site at Jai Hospital with his team minutes after the information was passed on to the ATS headquarters in Lucknow.
Immediately after the blast, security personnel got the entire hospital vacated and sealed the premises. All 97 patients undergoing treatment at the hospital at the time of the blast were shifted to other hospitals. Security around historical monuments, important installations and public places like bus and railway stations, was also beefed up. Police were deployed on the National Highway Number 2, passing barely a kilometer from the blast site.
Despite police claims of the blast being a low intensity one, the impact of the explosion turned the steel bench under which the bomb was apparently placed, into a mangled mess. The explosion shattered window panes of the entire reception lobby. Though there were no traces of fire, eye-witnesses said the lobby was filled with smoke after the blast. The sound of the explosion was heard at places kilometers from the site.
The MHA sought a preliminary report on the incident from the UP police shortly after the incident. A team of explosive experts from the National Security Guard (NSG) headquarters at Delhi have also been rushed to the blast site to assist in investigations.
While security agencies were yet to ascertain the exact motive behind the blast, Agra BJP MP R S Katheria slammed the UP government for the "security breach". "Agra has always been on terror radar," Katheria told TOI adding, "the incident only shows utter incompetence of the security agencies in the state."
President of Agra Tourist Guild Association Rajiv Narain said he suspected involvement of local goons in the incident. People must wait for the final verdict by experts before pressing the panic button, he said.
What had initially led to heightened anxiety among the police officials was the possibility of explosion being a terror attack or a dry run, preceding something more serious. "We are looking into all possibilities. Nothing is being ruled out completely at this point of time," said Agra police chief, DIG Aseem Arun.
Agra has always been high on security radar due to a large number of foreign tourists visiting Taj Mahal. In 2008, David Headley and his Pakistani associate Tahawwur Rana, held in US for their links to Mumbai blast, had confessed to have visited the Taj city for a terror reccee.
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LUCKNOW: Six persons were injured in a low intensity bomb explosion at a private nursing home in Agra on Saturday evening. The place is barely 2.5kms from high-security Mughal monument Taj Mahal. MHA sources in New Delhi said it does not look like a terror attack at this point of time.
Forensic experts have recovered pieces of wire and a battery from the blast site, confirming the use of an improvised explosive device (IED). The explosive, believed to be black in colour, was placed in a bag under a bench in front of the reception counter. The condition of the wires and the battery suggested that the explosive was put together loosely. Three of the injured have received serious injuries.
UP director general of police (Special) Brij Lal said a terror connect to the blast was yet to be established. But sources in the UP Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), after examining the site, did not entirely rule out a terror angle to the incident. It was not a crudely assembled bomb. The material used for assembling the devise shows a certain level of expertise not generally found in amateurs, a senior officer told TOI on phone.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) ATS G K Goswami, who was incidentally present in Agra on Saturday, reached the blast site at Jai Hospital with his team minutes after the information was passed on to the ATS headquarters in Lucknow.
Immediately after the blast, security personnel got the entire hospital vacated and sealed the premises. All 97 patients undergoing treatment at the hospital at the time of the blast were shifted to other hospitals. Security around historical monuments, important installations and public places like bus and railway stations, was also beefed up. Police were deployed on the National Highway Number 2, passing barely a kilometer from the blast site.
Despite police claims of the blast being a low intensity one, the impact of the explosion turned the steel bench under which the bomb was apparently placed, into a mangled mess. The explosion shattered window panes of the entire reception lobby. Though there were no traces of fire, eye-witnesses said the lobby was filled with smoke after the blast. The sound of the explosion was heard at places kilometers from the site.
The MHA sought a preliminary report on the incident from the UP police shortly after the incident. A team of explosive experts from the National Security Guard (NSG) headquarters at Delhi have also been rushed to the blast site to assist in investigations.
While security agencies were yet to ascertain the exact motive behind the blast, Agra BJP MP R S Katheria slammed the UP government for the "security breach". "Agra has always been on terror radar," Katheria told TOI adding, "the incident only shows utter incompetence of the security agencies in the state."
President of Agra Tourist Guild Association Rajiv Narain said he suspected involvement of local goons in the incident. People must wait for the final verdict by experts before pressing the panic button, he said.
What had initially led to heightened anxiety among the police officials was the possibility of explosion being a terror attack or a dry run, preceding something more serious. "We are looking into all possibilities. Nothing is being ruled out completely at this point of time," said Agra police chief, DIG Aseem Arun.
Agra has always been high on security radar due to a large number of foreign tourists visiting Taj Mahal. In 2008, David Headley and his Pakistani associate Tahawwur Rana, held in US for their links to Mumbai blast, had confessed to have visited the Taj city for a terror reccee.
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