A bomb disposal squad from Delhi at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad on Sunday and (right) a metal detector at the entrance to the mosque. (PTI and AFP)

Hyderabad, May 20: Questions are being raised why Hyderabad police did not use rubber bullets and fired above the waist on protesters after Friday’s blast at Mecca Masjid.

“It is unbelievable the police didn’t use rubber bullets,” said Riyaz Rawoof, the uncle of Ifthekaruddin Ahmed, who died because the police did not bother to tie a cloth around the wound in his leg. The 35-year-old had stepped out to get biscuits for his kids when he was caught in the crossfire.

He was among the five who had died in the firing — three on the streets of the old city and two in hospitals. Eleven people were killed in the explosions. “Ifthekaruddin could have been saved if someone had tied a cloth,” said Narayan Reddy, who heads Osmania Medical College’s forensic department, which has prepared the autopsy report on the firing deaths.

The report revealed that two were shot in the chest, two in their abdomen and one in the leg. It also said the bullets were fired from the police’s self-loading rifles. No bullet was lodged in the body — all had passed through.

Civil rights activists are bristling at the deaths. Hundreds of angry Muslim youths marched to the office of Andhra Pradesh police chief M.A. Basith today and burnt his effigy.

“Why did the police use regular bullets when guidelines require them to use those made of rubber?” asked Assaduddin Owaisi, the local MP and a key leader of the Majlis-e-Itahadul-Musalmeen, the outfit that organised the protest outside the office of the police chief.

Zaheeruddin, of New Agapura, was shot while he was on the way to Mecca Masjid to bring his elder brother back home. The bullet tore through the pelvis of the 27-year-old.

Misrigunj’s Akhtar Mohidduin, 15, was killed when a bullet ripped through his stomach. Saleem Khan, 35, of Kalapattar, and Falakuma’s Adil Ali, 17, died of bullet wounds in their chest. “He had a first class in his intermediate exams and was about to join an engineering college,” said Akbar Ali, Adil’s elder brother.

Around 18 rounds of bullets were fired by the local police and the special quick response team that prowled the streets after the blasts to control mob violence and arson.

On the blasts, the forensic report says eight persons died from shrapnel hits. Three were killed when granite stones (falling from the Mecca Masjid walls) hit them on their heads.

The All India Minorities Front demanded the resignation of chief minister Y.S.R. Reddy. The president of the organisation, S.M. Asif, said during a dharna here today that Reddy had failed to protect minorities’ lives.

Muslim leaders called for a CBI inquiry, saying they can’t trust the local police with the probe into Friday’s violence. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury lent his voice to their demand.

At the Mecca Masjid, metal detectors are scanning devotees. Men from the Rapid Action Force, in their usual blue fatigues, are keeping watch inside. Muslim groups have demanded that the detectors be removed, but police say the checks are only part of a temporary security drill.