A series of near-simultaneous explosions shook courthouses Friday in three north Indian cities, with blasts going off in Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad, officials said, according to AP. At least 12 lawyers were injured in the explosion in Varanasi, one of India's holiest cities, said Vipin Mishra, spokesman for the Home Ministry of Uttar Pradesh state, where all three cities are located. Seven people were killed in the explosion in Faizabad, CNN-IBN television reported. The blasts went off less than 15 minutes apart inside court complexes, but not in courtrooms, Mishra said. A series of terrorist bombings have ripped across India in the past two years. In August, a pair of explosions killed 43 people in the southern city of Hyderabad. In July 2006, bombs in seven Mumbai commuter trains killed more than 200 people.
