LUCKNOW, April 5: Indian police have arrested six men over triple bombings that killed more than 20 people in the temple city of Varanasi last month, an official said on Wednesday. Police suspect the six belonged to a Bangladesh-based militant outfit and are holding them on accusations of murder and conspiracy, said S. K. Agarwal, home secretary of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Police director-general Bua Singh said authorities were trying to find out the nationalities of the arrested men but they were believed to have been trained in Pakistan.

“In a late-night swoop (Tuesday), police arrested six men who are part of a module that took part in the blasts,” Mr Agarwal told AFP in the state capital Lucknow.

Police arrested the six in twin raids in Lucknow and on the outskirts, he said, adding they also found the explosive material RDX, grenades and an assault rifle.

The explosions went off almost simultaneously on March 7 at an ancient temple packed with devotees and a crowded railway station, killing 23 people and injuring 68 in Varanasi, India’s most important Hindu pilgrimage city.

The arrested men were believed to be members of Harkat-ul Jehadi Islam, a Bangladesh-based offshoot of Jaish-i-Mohammad which is fighting New Delhi’s rule in insurgency-racked Indian Kashmir, Agarwal said.

Police believe the suspects may have been planning a strike in Lucknow, he said.

Police last month shot dead a man they described as a militant “directly linked” to the bombings.—AFP