Two persons, including the chairman of the Sivaganga Municipality P Murugan, were killed and ten injured when a powerful bomb explosion ripped through his car in front of the Municipal Office near the town bus stand on Friday.

Police, quoting eyewitnesses, said the bomb exploded the moment Murugan got into the car around 1.30 pm after finishing his morning work at the office.

Ten passengers of a Madurai-bound bus which passed that way at the time of the explosion were injured as parts of the car hit them, they said.

The explosion was so powerful that the roof of the car broke into pieces and flew away.

Murugan, whose legs were blown away, and his driver Pandi were rushed to the government Rajaji hospital at Madurai, but both died on the way.

The seriously injured bus passengers, who were admitted to the Sivaganga government hospital, had been shifted to the Rajaji Hospital after first aid, hospital sources said.

It was a gory scene at the site of the explosion as flesh and parts of bodies were found sprayed all over.

Tension prevailed in the town and all shops in and around the bus stand shut down soon after the incident.

The schools in the town had also been closed.

District collector M A Siddique visited the spot and arranged for rushing the injured persons to the hospital.

Police were deployed around the town at all sensitive points and were monitoring the situation.

Murugan belonged to a group led by Rama Sivaraman, a former MLA from neighbouring Tirupattur assembly constituency.

There was rivalry between this group and another group in the party led by state HR and CE Minister K R Periakaruppan over capturing the chairmanship of the municipality in the local body elections in 2006 and the animosity continued after the polls.

Murugan contested the election as a rival candidate after the DMK fielded a supporter of Periakaruppan. But Murugan won the election.