Serial bombs kill at least 13 outside three Indian courts

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2007

NEW DELHI (AFP) — A series of near-simultaneous blasts on Friday outside courts in three Indian cities left at least 13 people dead and more than 40 wounded in what police called a terror attack on lawyers.

Nine people were killed, including three lawyers, in the holiest Hindu city of Varanasi and four more people died in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh state home secretary J.N. Chamber told AFP.

"This a terrorist attack on the advocates of our state," additional director-general of police Brij Lal said by telephone from the state capital Lucknow.

Uttar Pradesh police chief Vikram Singh said the bombs were transported to the courthouses of Varanasi -- where a string of powerful explosions killed 23 people in March 2006 -- Faizabad and Lucknow by bicycles which were...