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A powerful explosion ripped through a popular fast food joint venture at a crowded railway station in India's commercial city of Mumbai Friday afternoon, injuring at least 21 people.
The explosion took place inside the McDonald's outlet in the vicinity of departing point for long-distance trains at Mumbai Central Railway Station at around 5:00 p.m. local time (1130 GMT) Friday, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
The explosion came close on heels of a bomb blast on a bus, which killed two passengers and injured another 31 last Monday in Mumbai, 1,400 kilometers southwest of here, and series of hoax calls, which have caused much anxiety among citizens and kept the police and security forces busy.
Though police suspected that the explosion could either a gas cylinder blast or blast in the air conditioner unit, forensic experts, fire brigade personnel, a team of bomb disposal squad and two sniffer dogs were pressed into service to ascertain the cause of the incident.
The injured, including employees and customers of the McDonalds food plaza in the foyer of Mumbai Central Railway Station, had been rushed to a nearby hospital, PTI quoted railway police as saying.
Local and long distance trains resumed their services after a temporary suspension, PTI said, quoting Kripashankar Singh, minister of state for home affairs in the state government of Maharashtra, where Mumbai situates.
The site has been sealed off and the station evacuated after the accident, PTI said, adding that nearby commercial establishments also downed shutters immediately.
The scene of the explosion was strewn with shards of glass pieces, bloodstains and abandoned footwear, bags and water bottles, PTI reported from the scene.
The city has been flooded with hoax calls since last Monday after a crude bomb exploded in a bus, killing two passengers and injuring another 31.
The explosion took place on a day when religious minorities thronged the city to celebrate Muslim holiday Eid-Ul-Fitr, which coincided with the 10th anniversary of demolition of Babri Masjid, a Muslim mosque in the holly town of Ayodhya in the north state of Uttar Pradesh.
(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2002)
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