ANOTHER PROOF OF OUR IMPOTENT INTELLIGENCIA

A bomb hidden in a metal canister exploded Tuesday evening as thousands gathered for a Hindu ceremony, killing a toddler and triggering a stampede that left many others wounded in a holy Indian city.

Police said the blast in Varanasi appeared to be a terrorist attack but would not say who they suspected.

The bomb was stashed in a milk container on the Sheetla Ghat, one of many stone staircases leading to the Ganges river, the site of daily spiritual rituals, according to police official Brij Lal.

The explosion set off a stampede, and 20 people, including four foreigners, were wounded, Lal said. It was not immediately clear how many were hurt in the blast and how many in the subsequent chaos.
The force of the explosion ripped away a metal railing and damaged stones up to 60 metres away, said a witness, Ramatama Srivastava.

A two-year-old who had been sitting on her mother's lap when the bomb went off died later in a hospital from her wounds, Lal said. Her mother and two others, including one of the foreigners, were in serious condition.