AP News, May 23rd, 2007
Police questioned shopkeepers Wednesday as part of investigations into bombs packed strapped to bicycles that exploded a day earlier, slightly wounding six people in northern India.
Separately, police found 22 pounds of explosives and several gallons of ammonium nitrate in a railroad station in Faizabad, another small town in north India, an official said.
Two men were also detained, said police officer S.P Narayan.
Tuesday's three blasts took place in quick succession shortly after dusk in Gorakhpur, a town that earlier this year saw clashes between Hindus and Muslims.
Police were interviewing shop owners because the bicycles used in the attacks still had plastic wrapping on them and may have been purchased recently, said K. Chandramauli, the state's top administrative official.
Like many northern Indian towns, both Faizabad and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh state are mainly Hindu but have a substantial Muslim population. Both towns have a history of sporadic religious clashes.
Gorakhpur is the stronghold of Adiyanath Yogi, a Hindu hard-liner and a federal lawmaker representing the nationalist Bharatiya Janta Party. Faizabad is near Ayodhya, where Hindu extremists destroyed the 16th century Babri Mosque in 1992. That event led to large scale Hindu-Muslim riots in the country.
Police patrolled the streets of Gorakhpur on Wednesday. It is about 370 miles east of New Delhi.
"The administration has been asked to take the necessary steps to ward off tensions among the people," Chandramauli said.
The crudely made bombs were relatively small and hit a market, a building and an intersection, and six people sustained minor wounds. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The attack came four days after a historic mosque in southern India was bombed, killing 11 people. Another five people died in clashes between security officials and Muslim protesters that erupted after that blast.
Hindus represent more than 80 percent of India's population, while Muslims account for 130 million of India's 1.1 billion people.
