By IANS,
New Delhi : There was an uneasy calm in Delhi Sunday morning, a day after five meticulously planned serial blasts ripped through the Indian capital killing at least 20 people. Police said security had been tightened across the city.
Security measures have been beefed up around busy markets, cinema halls, hospitals and metro stations, officials said.
Raids were being conducted through the night, a police official said. He added that “seven or eight people” who were detained last night are were being interrogated by sleuths of the Delhi Police Special Cell and the Intelligence Bureau.
Police have also been continuously sending messages to the general public to take precautions while venturing out during the ongoing festive season. They have specially urged market association to be alert at all times.
The serial blasts that rocked Delhi Sunday evening caught many weekend shoppers unaware at popular markets in Karol Bagh, Greater Kailash-I and at Connaught Place, the heart of the national capital.
The first bomb exploded near a parking lot at Karol Bagh’s Gaffar Market at about 6.15 p.m., causing the worst carnage and killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 40.
Two bombs exploded in quick succession in nearby Connaught Place, killing seven people. Two more bombs went off at the upscale M Block market in Greater Kailash I in south Delhi, but they caused no death.
The police also found and defused three bombs – two in Connaught Place and one near India Gate, a capital landmark whose expansive lawns serve as a popular evening retreat for families.
A group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the bombings, very similar to the coordinated bombings that killed 56 people in Ahmedabad in July.
Police officials said they were taking the help of a ragpicker boy and a security guard, who claim to have seen the bombers dressed in black in Connaught Place as they were placing an object into a green-coloured plastic dustbin before speeding away in an autorickshaw.
Delhi was last rocked by a terror attack in 2005 when multiple blasts in Sarojini Nagar and Paharganj markets killed 51 people on the eve of the Diwali festival.