When it comes to religion, Hyderabad is an interesting mix: the population is largely Muslim, with a good number of Hindus living there as well. Overseeing this mixture is a large statue of Buddha installed in the center of the city’s artificial lake. (The lake was built centuries ago, the statue installed in the 90s.) Unfortunatey, this mixture isn’t without friction.

Mosque Bombing Kills Seven in India
By AMELIA GENTLEMAN
NEW DELHI, May 18 - A crude bomb exploded during Friday prayers at a 17th-century mosque in Hyderabad, a major city in southern India. At least seven people were killed, and about 35 more were wounded.

The attack was immediately condemned by the Indian government as an act of terrorism.

The police said the bomb was detonated by mobile phone at the Mecca Masjid, one of India*s oldest and largest mosques, at about 1:30 p.m. local time. Two other bombs in the area were defused by the police.

The city*s police chief, Balwinder Singh, said that many of the people wounded in the explosion were in critical condition, and he warned that the death toll could rise.

The explosion sparked a panic in the busy streets around the mosque. Television images showed hundreds of Muslims in prayer caps running from the building.

Later, crowds gathered around the mosque and threw stones at police officers, apparently out of anger over a perceived absence of police protection for worshipers before the bomb went off. Police officers used tear gas and batons to clear the area.

Hyderabad, the capital and largest city of Andhra Pradesh state, is predominantly Muslim, and has been a center of communal tensions in recent years between Muslims and Hindus, who make up the majority of the national population.

The bombing today raised fears of fresh hostility between the two groups.

The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, described the attack in a televised news conference as an act of *intentional sabotage on the peace and tranquility of the state* and appealed for calm.

Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the governing Congress Party, expressed sympathy for the victims.

A legislator from Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi, said that the bomb narrowly missed being much more destructive. *On Friday, at least 7,000 to 8,000 people perform the namaz over there,* he said on Indian television, referring to the Muslim praryers. *The fatalities would have been much higher if the bombing took place five, six minutes before.*

Abdul Quader, 30, who sustained light wounds to his legs at the mosque, told The Associated Press that he had been close to the site of the blast and described the scene. *As soon as prayers ended, we were about to get up, there was a huge deafening blast sending bodies into the air,* Mr. Quader said. *People started running helter-skelter, there was such confusion. People were bleeding, running around in a very bad condition.*

The NDTV news channel showed a videotape with scenes inside the mosque as the blast went off. Worshipers, who were praying on their knees, took a few seconds to realize what was happening before starting to run for the exits.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The home affairs minister, Shivraj Patil, said an investigation was underway.

Some 130 million Muslims live in India, out of a total population of about 1.1 billion.

A bomb explosion last year killed 32 people at a mosque in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. The police said that attack was the work of a banned Islamist student group, and suggested that the group was trying to spark communal tensions. No one has been convicted of setting off the blast.