New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) At least 18 people were killed and nearly 100 injured in six blasts at crowded market places in the capital Saturday evening, in terror attacks that once again rocked India during the festival season.
The bombings came two months after the attacks in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat where 56 people were killed in synchronized attacks in various places in the city.
It also came months after similar bombings in Rajasthan capital Jaipur that killed 68 people.
The Delhi blasts, for which a group called the Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility, came even as large parts of the country were in festival mode with the celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi, Ramadan and preparations on for the upcoming Durga Puja and Dussehra festivals.
The first blast Saturday took place in Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh in central Delhi at 6.15 p.m., killing at least 16 people. Reports said the blast had taken place in an auto rickshaw and injured around 50 people in the crowded market.
Roshan Lal, an eyewitness at Gaffar Marked, told IANS: “The auto rickshaw was lifted into the air by the impact of the blast and I saw bodies flying in every direction.”
Early eyewitness accounts said two of the blasts in downtown Connaught Place took place at the Central Park within a span of 10 seconds, and both bombs had apparently been kept inside garbage bins. An estimated 30 people were injured at the spot.
“We ourselves picked up around 20 people from the blast spots and all of them were rushed to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in fire brigade vehicles, ambulances and even auto rickshaws,” said eyewitness Rajesh.
The third blast in Connaught Place took place near Gopal Dass Bhavan in Barakhamba Road that has a number of high-rise office blocks housing scores of Indian and multinational companies, at the entrance to the Metro station, and is close to the British Council and American Centre.
This bomb too was kept above a dustbin, eyewitnesses said. Two people were killed in the blast here, police said.
Pranjal Baruah, an eyewitness at Barakhamba Road, said: “Two people were killed – one sadhu (ascetic) and a woman.”
Bhagirath, a relative of the ascetic who was killed, was looking for him, still unable to come to terms with the death. “I saw five people being injured,” he said.
Rajiv Thakur, a passerby, helped put people in vehicles headed for the Ram Manohar Lohia and Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospitals.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Anand Mohan said: “Two bombs were defused elsewhere in Connaught Place near the Regal cinema hall.” A third unexploded bomb was defused at New Delhi’s landmark India Gate.
Two more blasts took place in the M-Block market of south Delhi’s posh Greater Kailash I. One took place at 6.30 p.m. and another seven minutes later. One of the explosions took place in front of the popular Prince Paan Corner.
Police said the explosions in Greater Kailash I were of low intensity and no one was killed. The injured were rushed to local hospitals, and there was no initial estimate of the number of people injured.
Meena Rastogi said: “My husband and I were shopping in Greater Kailash when we heard a blast and there was light all around. At first we thought it was a cylinder blast. But later, as people realised it was a bomb, there was panic everywhere.”
The entire area was cordoned off. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) H.S. Dhaliwal said one of the bombs in Greater Kailash I was kept in an auto rickshaw..
There was panic and traffic snarls in the affected areas as people tried to leave even as crowds gathered. Security was immediately tightened across the capital, and other large markets like the one at Sarojini Nagar were evacuated.
Delhi was last rocked by a terror attack in 2005 when multiple blasts in Sarojini Nagar and Paharganj markets had killed 51 people on the eve of Diwali.
Admitting an intelligence failure, central government’s Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal told IANS: “The terrorists managed to fool us and get away this time.”
He also spoke of the “involvement of external forces in the blasts, though Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility” for the blasts.