Lucknow, November 23: Terror struck today in Uttar Pradesh when militants triggered near-simultaneous blasts in court premises in Varanasi, Faizabad and the state capital killing 14 people, some of them lawyers, and injuring over 60.Six bombsthree in Varansi, two in Faizabad and one in Lucknowsome planted on cycles, went off within a span of 15 minutes in the crowded court complexes between 1310 hours and 1325 hours.

A near stampede broke out in and around the blast spots with many injured bleeding profusely running for their life while several other wounded lay on the floor crying for help.

Police rushed to the spots and cordoned off the area and helped people in rushing the injured to various hospitals.

Apart from Uttar Pradesh, security was put on high alert in several parts of the country including the Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad in the wake of the blasts today.

S B Shirodkar, Senior Superintendent of Police in the temple town of Varanasi, which was the target of a terror strike last year, said nine people were killed and 45 injured, some of them seriously, when two bombs planted on cylcles went off in quick succession.

He said the injured were admitted to four hospitals including Benares Hindu University Hospital.

He said the explosives, planted on cyles, went off when the court premises was crowded with lawyers and litigants.

Four of the dead in Varanasi were identified as Bodh Raj Verma (advocate), Yagya Narain Singh, Moolchand Singh and a 11-yearold boy Sanjeev Kumar.

Priyatosh Tripathi of the bomb disposal squad in Varanasi said the two imporvised explosive devices were planted on two new bicycles and placed in the busy area of the court complex.

In Faizabad town, adjoining holy town of Ayodhya, five people were killed and 25 injured when two bombs in bags exploded in two lawyers' chambers.

Four of the dead were identified as Radhikaprasad Mishra (lawyer), his assistant Babu Ram, Om Prakash Pandey (stamp vendor) and Kesari Prasad (client), officials said.

They said the first explosion was minor in nature while the second claimed casualities ripping through the two advocate chambers.

Three of the seriously injured were taken to King George Medical College Hospital in Lucknow.

In Lucknow, the bomb was planted on a cylce near an electricity complex.

However, there was no casuality.

A live bomb with a timer device attached to it was also found and defused.

Calling it a terror strike, UP Chief Minister Mayawati attributed the serial blasts to the "failure" on the part of central intelligence agencies.

She announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs two lakh to the kin of those killed and Rs 50,000 to the injured.

The blasts came a week after Uttar Pradesh police, along with central security agencies, busted a Jaish-e-Mohammed module who wanted to target Rahul Gandhi.

Lawyers had thrashed the three JeM militants when they were being produced before a court here.

Banned Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islamia (HuJI) is believed to be behind the serial blasts.

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