16 dead in bomb blast near Hardoi

Sixteen persons were killed and a passerby seriously injured in a powerful bomb blast in a tempo on the Kanpur-Hardoi state highway this evening. The blast was so strong that huts in many villages like Bhitai, Piparwa and Saibagh cracked, forcing people — who initially suspected an earthquake — to run for safety.

Though there is no official confirmation yet, the strength of the blast suggested that RDX could have been used in the blast. The state police chief Radhey Mohan Shukla and DIG (Lucknow range) Arun Kumar have rushed to the spot.

The bomb, which was kept inside the tempo, went off near the Farhat Nagar railway crossing, about 40 km from Hardoi. Of the injured, a woman later succumbed in the hospital, while the condition of another injured is stated to be critical.