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Report:
Pak Terrorist Attack on Akshardham Temple
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New Delhi, Sept. 24, 2002: Thirty people were killed and another 100 were seriously injured in a fatal attack by terrorists on the Akshardham temple complex in the Indian city of Gandhinagar during an evening prayer service (aarti) on Tuesday.
The killed include 13 men, six women and four children. The injured were rushed to the Gandhinagar civil hospital. The number is expected to rise.
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| The Akshardham Temple complex in Gujarat. Click here for more... |
According to eyewitness reports, unidentified gunmen came in an Ambassador car and entered the Swaminarayan temple by jumping the fence, hurled grenades and opened fire indiscriminately at pilgrims inside the temple. Security forces were rushed in to the spot. They surrounded the 22-acre site and engaged in a gunbattle with the terrorists. 500 pilgrims were evacuated from the temple and commandos were flown in from New Delhi to combat terrorism.
Indian Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, briefing the media in New Delhi said that two to four terrorists in plain clothes armed with AK-47 rifles stormed the temple at around 4.45 PM local time, and started firing as well as staged a grenade attack. The attack is a deliberate design to divert attention from the successful polls in Jammu and Kashmir, Advani said.
The Akshardham Temple was set up by the followers of Lord Swaminarayan (1781-1830 AD) about 2 decades ago. President Bill Clinton was one of the visitors to the temple when he came to India during the aftermath of the Gujarat earthquake in early 2001.
Gandhinagar is Gujarat's capital city, and is named after Mahatma Gandhi, the Hindu messiah of peace and non-violence.
The attack comes at a time when US diplomat Christina Rocca is in New Delhi to discuss terrorism, even as the Indian government focuses on combating Pakistan-sponsored Islamic terrorism in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, where elections are currently on.
Gujarat has a bloody history of communal riots. The latest carnage took place earlier this year when Muslim mobs were accused of setting a train carrying Hindu activists on fire, which was followed by widespread religious violence and mass killing.
Vowing to "deal with terrorism with a firm hand", Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has decide to cut short his visit to the neighboring island-country of Maldives and return to take care of the situation.
President George W. Bush has condemned the attack on Akshardham temple. "The President condemns all terrorist attacks. This was a particularly deadly attack, and the President condemns it," Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer was quoted by news agencies.
Update - Sept. 25, 2002: The temple siege ended when Indian commandos killed two militants holed up inside the Akshardham temple on Wednesday morning. Both the dead terrorists were later found to be Muslims hailing from Pakistan. The terrorists were identified as Hafiz Yassir from Attock and Md. Amjad from Lahore.
A group by the name of "Tehreek-e-Kasas" has claimed responsibility for the attack. This was revealed by a letter written in Urdu being carried by one of the killed terrorists. Around 50 people who were trapped in the temple premises overnight were rescued after the operations ended.
The Swaminarayan sect, while calling for special prayers for the departed souls, has appealed to the people to maintain "peace, religious harmony and solidarity," and said that the attack on the "centre of peace and harmony" should not provoke people.
The Shahi Imam of Tipu Sultan Shahi Masjid, Moulana S M N R Barkati and his Majlis-E-Shoora also condemned the attack on the Swaminarain temple and said it was a clever tactic by the enemies of the country to rupture the secular fabric of India.
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Photo courtesy: Official Temple Website |
