Attack on Indian Courts: 13 Killed, 60 Wounded

At least 13 persons, including four lawyers, were killed and 60 injured when six bombs went off in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Friday. Three court complexes in the capital city Lucknow and the towns of Faizabad and Varanasi were the target.

India’s leading newspaper The Hindu says that loaded on bicycles parked outside the lawyers’ chambers in the three towns, the bombs were synchronised to explode shortly after 1.15 p.m.

“All the explosions occurred in the courts where suspects linked to recent Islamist terror strikes have been attacked or denied presentation by lawyers, suggesting that they were intended as an act of reprisal.

“Pakistani nationals Mohammad Abid, Mohammad Yusuf and Mirza Rashid, who police say were members of a Jaish-e-Mohammad module assigned to assassinate Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, were beaten up by Lucknow lawyers when they were produced in the court on November 18.”

Another report says: “Police on Friday night walked into the studios of CNN IBN and grabbed the eyewitness to the bomb attacks on courts in Uttar Pradesh. As soon as the television channel started beaming the footage, a police team carrying firearms entered the studios in Hazratganj and roughed up some of its reporters, the channel alleged.

“Eyewitness Sunny, who is a cycle parking attendent, claimed he had seen a clean-shaven man wearing a plain white shirt and maroon trousers parked a cycle at the court compound.” More here…

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