Explosion at Indian Temple

The BBC is reporting on an explosion in the Indian town of Varanasi, a pilgramage town in Northern India. Early reports provide a death toll of five, though the story now runs with 'several' killed and 22 injured.

The first explosion took place in a major temple in the city, the Sankot Mochan temple dedicated to the Hindu God Hanuman.

An eyewitness, Siddharth Suri, told the BBC that thousands of people were at the temple at the time of the blast.

Tuesday is a special day at the Sankat Mochan temple and the explosion took place just minutes before the main worship.

"There was a loud explosion followed by dust. There was pandemonium in the front of the temple," Mr Suri said.

India, largely Hindu, has the worlds second largest Muslim population. Though the two religions have largely remained on peaceful terms, there have been violent flare ups in the past. My guess is that we're seeing a sort of copycat attack on a Hindu shrine in India after seeing the success of the sectarian attack in Iraq.

India Terrorism Religion