By IRNA,
New Delhi : At least 30 people have been killed and around 100 injured in five serial blasts in a span of 45 minutes in three crowded market across India’s capital, Delhi Saturday evening.
The blasts rocked Connaught place, about a km from Parliament, Ghaffar market in Karol Bagh in Central Delhi and the M Block market in posh Greater Kailash in South Delhi.
The first explosion rocked Ghaffar market of Karol Bagh at 1815 hours IST (Indian Standard Time) when its was bustling with Saturday evening shoppers.
The explosive was kept near a Maruti car and the impact of the last was so severe that a three-wheeler auto rickshaw was thrown up several feet in the air.
This was followed by two blasts in Connaught Place– one in Central park and one near a commercial tower in Barakhamba area and two in Greater Kailash in South Delhi.
The explosives were planted in dust bins in Connaught place area while in Greater Kailash one was in dust bin and another on a bicycle.
At least four unexploded bombs were also recovered from Connaught place and India Gate.
Preliminary examination of the blast sites showed that the explosions were of low intensity where ammonium nitrate in an integrated circuit had been used in almost all the explosions.
Saturday evening’s five serial blasts brought back memories of the terror strike in Delhi on October 29, 2005 in which sixty-six people had killed.
The bombs were triggered in two markets in central and south Delhi and in a bus in the Govindpuri area in the south of the city.
Meanwhile, Indian Mujahideen, a shadow amalgam of banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Lashker-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the Saturday’s blasts through an e-mail sent to Indian TV news channels around the same time when the blasts took place.
However, two people were believed to have been detained in connection with the explosions.
Shortly after the blasts, all the major markets in the Capital were shut as a precautionary measure.
Saturday’s blasts come on top of the serial blasts in Jaipur in May in which 65 people were killed and the explosions in Ahmedabad in July that left 49 dead.
There were serial blasts in Bangalore in which two people were killed, a day before Ahmedabad blasts.
Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry has issued an advisory to all states and union territories asking them to remain vigilant and step up security following the serial blasts in the national capital.
Soon after the blasts at half a dozen places, the ministry dispatched expert teams to examine the sites.
Condemning the blasts, President, Pratibha Patil, Vice President, Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister, Dr, Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister, Shivraj Patil and other leaders condoled the loss of lives in the explosions and described the incident as a “mindless act of violence”.
They appealed to the people to maintain calm in the face of this adversity.