15 injured in Agra hospital blast, UP on high alert
Source: TOI
Blast at Agra hospital, several injured
See photo
LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: At least 15 people were injured in a blast at Jai Hospital in Agra
on Saturday evening. The explosion took place at the waiting room near
the reception of the hospital. Three of the injured have received
serious injuries.
The place is barely 2.5kms from high-security Mughal monument Taj Mahal.
According to sources, preliminary reports on the incident from Uttar Pradesh DGP and chief secretary to the Union home ministry indicated that the blast could be result of rivalries between two private hospitals.
It, however, did not rule out the possibility of terror angle at this juncture. Anything concrete can be said only after some progress in the probe is made, it added.
Forensic experts have recovered pieces of wire and a battery from the blast site, confirming the use of an improvised explosive device (IED). The explosive, believed to be black in colour, was placed in a bag under a bench in front of the reception counter. The condition of the wires and the battery suggested that the explosive was put together loosely.
The blast shattered the windowpanes of the reception and set off panic among the people. The hospital is located around two km from the Taj Mahal and is on the Agra-Delhi highway.
Patients were evacuated from the hospital and police cordoned off the entire area and conducted an intensive combing operation.
"The explosive was kept under a chair. The blast has badly damaged the room", said IGP, Agra Range, PK Tiwari. He added that it was too early to say if it was a terror attack.
"Anti-terror squad has been rushed to Agra," DGP (Law & Order) Brij Lal told reporters in Lucknow. "Forensic team has also reached the site of blast," he added.
Agra police said that it was a low intensity blast. Several tiffin boxes have been found from the site. A bag and nine volt battery has also been recovered.
The security has been beefed up in and around sensitive areas of Agra. Entire state has also been put on alert.
NSG experts rushed to Agra
The blast has revived apprehensions of terrorists targeting the city of the Taj Mahal. Even as cops said no conclusive evidence to a terrorist strike was found, BJP MP from Agra RS Katheria slammed the UP government for the "security breach". "Agra has always been on terror radar," Katheria said.
A team of explosive experts from the National Security Guard has also been rushed to the blast site to assist in investigations. Agra has always been a security priority, given the large number of foreign tourists visiting Taj Mahal. In 2008, David Headley and his Pakistani associate Tahawwur Rana confessed they had visited the Taj city for a terror recce.
Senior superintendent of police ATS GK Goswami, reached the blast site at Jai Hospital with his team minutes after the information was passed on to the ATS headquarters in Lucknow. What led to heightened sense of anxiety among police officers was the fear of something more serious happening in the near future. "We are looking into all possibilities," said Agra police chief DIG Aseem Arun.
Immediately after the blast, security personnel got the entire hospital vacated and sealed the premises. All 97 patients undergoing treatment at the hospital at the time of the blast were shifted to other hospitals.
The place is barely 2.5kms from high-security Mughal monument Taj Mahal.
According to sources, preliminary reports on the incident from Uttar Pradesh DGP and chief secretary to the Union home ministry indicated that the blast could be result of rivalries between two private hospitals.
It, however, did not rule out the possibility of terror angle at this juncture. Anything concrete can be said only after some progress in the probe is made, it added.
Forensic experts have recovered pieces of wire and a battery from the blast site, confirming the use of an improvised explosive device (IED). The explosive, believed to be black in colour, was placed in a bag under a bench in front of the reception counter. The condition of the wires and the battery suggested that the explosive was put together loosely.
The blast shattered the windowpanes of the reception and set off panic among the people. The hospital is located around two km from the Taj Mahal and is on the Agra-Delhi highway.
Patients were evacuated from the hospital and police cordoned off the entire area and conducted an intensive combing operation.
"The explosive was kept under a chair. The blast has badly damaged the room", said IGP, Agra Range, PK Tiwari. He added that it was too early to say if it was a terror attack.
"Anti-terror squad has been rushed to Agra," DGP (Law & Order) Brij Lal told reporters in Lucknow. "Forensic team has also reached the site of blast," he added.
Agra police said that it was a low intensity blast. Several tiffin boxes have been found from the site. A bag and nine volt battery has also been recovered.
The security has been beefed up in and around sensitive areas of Agra. Entire state has also been put on alert.
NSG experts rushed to Agra
The blast has revived apprehensions of terrorists targeting the city of the Taj Mahal. Even as cops said no conclusive evidence to a terrorist strike was found, BJP MP from Agra RS Katheria slammed the UP government for the "security breach". "Agra has always been on terror radar," Katheria said.
A team of explosive experts from the National Security Guard has also been rushed to the blast site to assist in investigations. Agra has always been a security priority, given the large number of foreign tourists visiting Taj Mahal. In 2008, David Headley and his Pakistani associate Tahawwur Rana confessed they had visited the Taj city for a terror recce.
Senior superintendent of police ATS GK Goswami, reached the blast site at Jai Hospital with his team minutes after the information was passed on to the ATS headquarters in Lucknow. What led to heightened sense of anxiety among police officers was the fear of something more serious happening in the near future. "We are looking into all possibilities," said Agra police chief DIG Aseem Arun.
Immediately after the blast, security personnel got the entire hospital vacated and sealed the premises. All 97 patients undergoing treatment at the hospital at the time of the blast were shifted to other hospitals.
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