Varanasi blast: High alert across India

New Delhi: Following the blast outside Shitlaghat temple in Varanasi, on Monday evening, the major cities of the country including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad were put on high alert.

Home Secretary GK Pillai said, "An alert to all Indian states was sent following the anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition on December 6. The same alert has been re-iterated following the Varanasi blast."

Pillai confirmed the blast to be a terrorist attack. He said, "Though the blast, which was a low intensity explosion injured four to five people, including a foreign national, almost fifteen people were injured in the stampede that followed at the blast site." One person died in the blast.