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Hyderabad, Feb 21 (IANS) The serial blasts that rocked Hyderabad Thursday killing 12 people and injuring 80 others is one of the worst terror attacks in the city in recent years. Dilsukhnagar area, where the bomb blasts occurred during the rush hour, had witnessed an explosion in 2002. Two people were killed in that explosion near Saibaba Temple on Nov 21, 2002. Police had killed two local Muslim youths allegedly involved in the 2002 blast in two separate shoot-outs the same year. Police had blamed Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) for the blast. Ten years later, terrorists have targeted the same area, a commercial hub located to the south of Musi River and about 15 km from the core city area. Nine people were killed in the blast during Friday prayers at the historic Mecca Masjid in the old city of Hyderabad on May 18, 2007. Five more died when police opened fire to quell the mobs that erupted in anger near the mosque. On Aug 25 the same year, twin blasts rocked the city killing 42 and injuring 50 others. Gokul Chat, a small eatery in Koti, a crowded commercial hub and Lumbini Park opposite state secretariat in the heart of the city were targeted. For the Mecca Masjid blast, police had initially blamed and Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami (HUJI). It had picked up dozens of local Muslim youth, who were later acquitted by the courts. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) last year arrested six activists of right-wing Hindu groups for the Mecca Masjid blast. For the twin blasts at Gokul Chat and Lumbini Park, the police arrested suspected terrorists of LeT and some activists of banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
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