Blast at Ajmer Dargah, 2 dead

AJMER: A blast shook the sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer on Thursday at 6:20 pm, leaving two dead and eleven injured. Two of the injured persons are stated to be in a critical condition. The blast material was placed inside a tiffin box.

The two dead persons, included 45-year-old Mohd Sohaib from Mumbai,  who died on the spot in the blast near Aasthan-e-Noor opposite Begum Ki Dhalan when people
had gathered there for iftaar, Deepak Upreti, Divisonal Commisioner of Ajmer said.     

The crude bomb, planted near a tree at Aasthan-e-Noor, went off a minute after the fasting period ended, he said.
    
Union Home Ministry sources in Delhi said it was a terror strike in which militants had used a low-intensity improvised explosive device.
    
They said the terror outfits, including Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, were against sufi Islam and they could be prime suspects behind the blast which came barely ten days
ahead of the meeting of Indo-Pakistan anti-terror mechanism here on October 22.
    
CRPF battalions based in Ajmer had been kept in readiness for deployment at the shrine

The blast pattern is similar to the Hyderabad blasts, said the Rajasthan Police. They also stated that seven of the injured persons were police jawans. According to sources, the site of the blast was only a short distance from the CM's Iftaar party.

Meanwhile, following the blast, an enraged crowd attacked the policemen present at the site. The Minister of State for Home Affairs and the Rajasthan police have appealed to the people to remain calm.