Malegaon (Maharashtra), Sep 9 (IANS) Congress President Sonia Gandhi, accompanied by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, visited Malegaon Saturday after it was rocked by a series of bomb explosions at a Muslim graveyard that killed 38 people and injured 190 minutes after the Friday prayers.

The well-planned blasts in this Muslim-dominated town, 300 km northwest of Mumbai, agitated local people but did not disrupt social harmony, community leaders and officials said.

Curfew was relaxed this morning, after it was imposed Saturday evening after the blasts, but is likely to be re-imposed Saturday afternoon.

Gandhi, accompanied by Patil, visited the injured at the Farhan Hospital and then visited the site of the blasts at the Bada Kabristan (cemetery) and at the Mushaira Chowk near a mosque where hundreds had congregated on the occasion of Shab-e-Baraat, the night of salvation when people pray through the night to seek forgiveness and fast the next day.

"Whosoever are behind this dastardly, cowardly and senseless act have failed to get the desired affect. Their aim was to whip up communal frenzy, but they have failed," said Sayed Abdul Jabar, an eyewitness. The bombs were placed on bicycles kept outside the Noorani Mosque and the adjacent Bada Kabristan (cemetery) in the heart of Malegaon.

"How can these people (terrorists) possibly attack worshippers on a day like Shab-e-Barat, when Muslims pray for the dead. What was heartening was that the entire population of the town rose to the occasion to come out and tend to the injured. It was a classic example of India's secular fabric," the 54-year-old textile merchant told IANS.

"It is sad that most of the victims were poor fakirs (holy men) from outside the town, who had come to the mosque to offer prayers," Jabar said, his voice choked.

"But the evil intentions of the terrorists will not divide the people of this town. Malegaon has bounced back to normalcy today as you can see for yourself. We are now praying for the dead," Jabar added.

"People rose to the occasion cutting across all communities. Everyone pitched in to rush the injured and those dead to hospitals. People came to the blast site and the hospitals offering help to the injured and consoling relatives of the victims," said Umesh Shirke, a local journalist.

"Though Malegaon has a history of communal violence, this time it was different. People did not fall prey to the evil designs of the terrorists," Shirke said.

In the absence of good government hospitals, the injured had to be taken to private nursing homes.