Crude bomb explosion kills 2 in eastern India

PATNA, Jan 23 (AP): A crude bomb exploded Friday in a court in eastern India, killing two people, police said. Senior police officer Gupteshwar Pandey said one of the dead was a woman who allegedly carried the bomb in a bag.

The blast happened in Arrah, a town 65 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of Patna, the capital of Bihar state. Pandey said a policeman died later in hospital, and three others were hurt.

 He said the explosion occurred close to a cell where the prisoners are kept before appearing in the court. Two of the prisoners escaped following the explosion, said R. K. Singh, a lawmaker who represents the region. Police are still investigating the incident.

Another report adds: Clashes between protesters and police erupted in Indian Kashmir's main city of Srinagar after Friday prayers amid a general shutdown called over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The closure of shops and businesses was ordered by a leading Muslim organisation and several separatist groups to protest the "blasphemous" caricatures in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo whose offices were attacked by Islamist gunmen on January 7.

Most businesses remained closed and the roads were virtually empty in Srinagar and other towns in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley, according to reports.

Authorities imposed restrictions on the movement of people in some areas of Srinagar's congested old town to prevent protests after Friday prayers.

The clashes broke out when police fired smoke cannisters and shot into the air to disperse a group of protestors who began chanting slogans in favour of Islam and "Down with Charlie Hebdo" after emerging from mosques.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Similar protests have been seen in many other parts of the Muslim world since Charlie Hebdo printed the cartoons in a defiant response to the massacre at its Paris offices in which 12 people were killed.