NEW DELHI, May 19: It was officially admitted on Saturday that five of the 16 Muslims slain on Friday were killed in police firing. They were staging protests over the blast in Makkah Mosque in Hyderabad on Friday.

Eleven faithful died in the explosion inside the mosque during Friday prayers while five persons were killed in the police firing in the old city soon after the blast. As many as 61 people were injured, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy told reporters.

Meanwhile, a state-wide strike was observed in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday, called by Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen to protest against the blast.

Heavy police security arrangements were made to control the situation.

The Indian daily Times of India in its report on Saturday questioned why Rapid Action Force was missing after March 19 in this communally sensitive area. Quoting Muslims in the area, the paper said on every Friday RAF was deployed in the area and around the mosque but they failed to understand who decided to remove this force after March 19, 2007.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil who arrived in Hyderabad on Saturday said: “The explosion at the historic Makkah Masjid reveals a definite design in which religious places are attacked to create bad blood between different communities.”

Over 35 people were killed in a similar attack in Maharashtra’s power loom town of Malegaon in September last year.

Official sources said investigations into the blast case got a breakthrough with the recovery of a SIM card from a mobile phone connected to one of the unexploded bombs in the mosque premises.

The relief package announced by the government, including Rs500,000 ex-gratia, a house and a government job to each bereaved family, would apply to victims of the blast and police firing, the chief minister said.

—APP