hard-line Hindu groups to hold marches throughout the country, after six heavily armed militants were killed in the city of Ayodhya as they tried to storm a controversial Hindu shrine. The attempt as reportedly setting off a two-hour gun battle with Indian security forces that left all six attackers dead, police said. The violence began when one of them in a jeep blew himself up, with the blast tearing a hole in iron railings surrounding the shrine, allowing the others to get on the verge of the temple’s inner sanctum, police added.
Five gunmen had followed the suicide bomber in a car used by an ambassador, which they rammed into the security barricade to breach the cordon, police investigators claimed. In statements obtained by the BosNewsLife Orissa Bureau, police said one militant who rammed the jeep "was blown to pieces", while five others were killed in the encounter with security personnel.
Official sources said a woman devotee, who happened to be near the scene of the blast, also succumbed to her injuries in the hospital. The driver of the ambassador car, identified as Rehan, an Ayodhya resident, has been arrested and three security men were injured in the operation, BosNewsLife learned.
TROUBLED CITY
Ayodhya in the state of Uttar Pradesh state, about 350 miles (about 219 kilometers) east from the Indian capital New Delhi, has been at the center of a religious disputes between Muslims and Hindus since the 1980’s. Fighting has centered especially on the city’s Ram Janmbhoomi shrine, which is claimed by both Hindus and Muslims.
In 1992, Hindu nationalists demolished a 16th century Muslim mosque on the sprawling 80-acre complex, sparking religious riots that reportedly killed more than 2,000 people. The Hindu militants said the Babri mosque they destroyed stood on the site of the birthplace of Rama, who is seen by Hindus as a Hindu god.
Police sources said that Tuesday’s, apparently Muslim militants, were disguised as Hindu devotees. Four AK 47 and AK 56 rifles, some hand grenades and ammunition were recovered from the bodies of the slain militants, they said. This was the first terrorist attack on the disputed complex, since the makeshift Hindu temple was erected following the demolition of
the Babri mosque 13 years ago.
CHRISTIANS CONCERNED
In a move that was expected to add to fear among Christians, the hard-line Hindu groups Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal called for nation wide protests and marches following the "terrorist attack." Like ordinary Muslims, Christians and church leaders as well as missionaries have been singled out for revenge attacks and other violence by Hindu militants, human rights and advocacy groups say. At least two missionaries were killed in Orissa in recent weeks.
"We have called for a Protest on July 6 to protest the attack on Ramjanmabhoomi at Ayodhya," VHP representative Vyankatesh Abdev said in a statement. In the tense state of Orissa, the VHP also declared "a state wide protest", after burning the Pakistan national flag, saying Pakistan was behind the attack.
Security meanwhile has been beefed up across major cities and religious places in India. In New Delhi, a red alert was echoed throughout the streets, security measures were at RSS Headquarters and temples across the national capital, news reports said.
Similar measures were also taken in other areas and states of India. (With BosNewsLife Research and Stefan J. Bos. Satya Sundar Mishra is BosNewsLife India Reporter based in Orissa. Mishra is a Development Journalist of Orissa working on social and religious issues that are not yet on the radar screen of media and politicians. He has been working for a variety of key publications. He can be reached via e-mail satya_mishra11@rediffmail.com ).
