Varanasi: Grieving relatives of people killed in triple blasts in the temple town cremated their loved ones as police warned on Thursday of attacks on other holy Hindu shrines.
"I cradled him in my arms when he was a little baby and now these same hands will light the pyre of my only child," said a man who lost his children in the blasts.
Twenty-three people were killed and 68 injured in three blasts that rocked Varanasi late on Tuesday. The first bomb exploded at Varanasi's Sankatmochan (Liberator of Troubles) temple, which was packed with 1,000 devotees.
Some of the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition.
"Eight bodies have not yet been identified so far but the remaining corpses have been claimed and taken away and some of them were already cremated on Wednesday," Varanasi's chief civilian administrator Ramesh Gokad said.
Police suspect Lashkar militants were behind the blasts and have deployed in strength across Uttar Pradesh state to try to prevent a communal riot.
Varanasi saw street protests and a shutdown strike on Wednesday, but no violence was reported, police said.
"The situation has more or less returned to normal after the protesters vented their steam by targeting us," Varanasi police chief Navneet Sikera said.
He, however, warned that militants could target other shrines in Uttar Pradesh.
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