TERROR IN HOLY CITY: 28 DEAD IN SANKAT MOCHAN TEMPLE & CANTT STATION BLASTS
Lashkar-e-Taiba Bomb Detonates During Tuesday Evening Aarti; Devotees & Wedding Party Carnage
On 7 March 2006, two powerful coordinated bombs exploded in Varanasi: the first inside the crowded Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple during Tuesday evening prayers packed with devotees and wedding parties, and the second near the Cantonment Railway Station ticket counter.
28 innocent pilgrims and commuters were killed and over 100 wounded. A third unexploded cooker bomb was later defused in Godowlia market.
The attack underscored the vulnerability of major cultural and spiritual centers under the UPA's fragmented internal security doctrine.
📌 Key Figures & Decision Makers
- ▸ Shivraj Patil (Home Minister)
- ▸ Mulayam Singh Yadav (UP CM)
- ▸ Waliullah Khan (LeT)
- • Special Court Verdict in 2006 Varanasi Serial Blasts Case (District and Sessions Court Ghaziabad, 2022)