Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

October 19, 2007 (Karachi): Two massive blasts rocked former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's motorcade in Karachi early on Friday morning, killing at least 135 people and injuring over 545 others .The blasts, which reports indicate were suicide attacks, took place a few feet away from Bhutto's convoy.Witnesses said they heard an explosion that was followed by another one that occurred just to the left of Bhutto's armoured truck. Bhutto had left the unprotected, open-air perch of the truck and gone below just before the explosions took place. The first bomb exploded from the left side of the truck, causing party workers to fall on each other; then the second blast struck when people were trying to get up and many were injured as they leapt off the truck when it caught fire.Pakistan People's Party spokesperson Farhatullah Babar has confirmed that Bhutto is safe and has reached her home Bilawal House in a police car. However, Rehman Malik, one of Bhutto's adv

Friday, 18 May , 2007 Hyderabad: Five persons were killed and eight others, including two children, were injured when a powerful bomb exploded during Friday prayers at the historic Mecca mosque in the Charminar area of the old city in Hyderabad. Two live bombs were also detected from the spot soon after the explosions and were defused. The bomb exploded when thousands of people were gathered in the mosque for Friday prayers, DCP, South Zone, Kanta Rao, said. The injured, some of them bleeding profusely, were rushed to Osmania and other hospitals by the worshippers in whatever modes of transport they could arrange. The explosion created such a panic that those gathered for the prayers started running towards the exit gate of the mosque, said to be over 400 years old and considered sacred by Muslims in and outside the state. A large posse of police personnel, who arrived on the scene, faced an angry crowd, who pelted stones at them and the shops in the vicinity. Police resorted to lath