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Terror attack ruled out in Meerut bomb blast
At least five people were killed and seven injured in a blast in a scrap heap in Meerut, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, on Saturday afternoon.
- IANS
- Published: 22:50 November 8, 2008
Lucknow: At least five people were killed and seven injured in a blast in a scrap heap in Meerut, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, on Saturday afternoon.
The police suspected a live mortar shell that ragpickers had picked up from Meerut Cantonment had burst.
Police said two women and three children were killed in the blast in a slum called Bengali Basti, part of Zaqir Nagar in Meerut.
Additional Director-General of UP Police (Law and Order) Brij Lal said: "Any terrorist activity in this case is completely ruled out. It's clearly an accident."
"The blast took place in a colony where some slum dwellers had been recently rehabilitated," said an officer of the Lisari Gate police station in Meerut.
"The blast took place when the victims were trying to extract copper from a live mortar shell. However, it exploded, killing five people," Meerut's inspector general of police Guru Darshan Singh said.
Situated near the firing ground of the army, the area is often trespassed upon by slum dwellers in search of scrap.
"A private contractor is given the task to collect the scrap after the army conducts a firing exercise. However, some shells and mortars get buried and often do not explode," explained Singh.
This is picked up by ragpickers, mostly minors, who trespass into the area.
Extracting metal from these shells is a business adopted by many dwellers, he added.
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