Hyderabad blasts: Toll mounts to 16, over 110 injured

Zeenews Bureau Hyderabad: Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Friday morning visited the site of twin blasts in Hyderabad. Shinde, who reached Hyderabad by a special flight this morning, drove straight to Dilsukhnagar and went around the blast site and met the injured in the hospital. As of 1 pm, the toll has risen to 16 after two more succumbed to injuries. The number of injured now stands at 117. The minister, who was accompanied by Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Union Home Secretary NK Singh, inspected the fast food centre where the bicycle bomb killed at least eight persons on the spot. He then went to the bus shelter about 150 meters away where the second blast killed another six people and left many injured. The Union minister later visited some hospitals where the injured persons were undergoing treatment. “We visited both the places and went to hospital, where we met some of the non-critical patients. Some of them were serious,” Shinde said.

Shinde also spoke with officials of the National Investigating Agency and enquired about the clues gathered from the scene. Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy briefed the Union Home Minister about the two blasts. About the intelligence input received two days ago that blasts may take place in the country, Shinde said the same was not specific and only a general alert was issued to the states. He added that it can’t be said at this moment that police failed to act on the threat perception. To another query about the involvement of group in the blast, he said such things can`t be said at the moment. “Since Parliament is on, this is the only information I am going to give you now,” the minister said, who is expected to make a statement in both Houses of Parliament later in the day today. Meanwhile, police have established the identity of most of the killed in the blasts. Two of the deceased were MBA students, a release from Cyberabad Police Commissioner`s office said. Post-mortem of the bodies was conducted at Osmania General Hospital. (With PTI inputs)