By IINA,
New Delhi : Police today conducted raids across New Delhi to find the perpetrators of the multiple blasts that hit the city, while police questioned 12 suspects in connection with the deadly attacks, which were claimed by a group calling itself Indian Mujahidin. Five explosions ripped through New Delhi’s busy shopping and commercial areas yesterday, killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 100 others. “We have detained 10-12 people for further questioning,” Rajan Bhagat, New Delhi police spokesman, said. He said that no formal arrests had been made after hundreds of people, mostly residents of the neighborhoods hit by bombs, were questioned by the police overnight. “We have very vital clues, positive clues, we are very hopeful we will solve this case,” Bhagat said.
Police said they were also studying footage from close-circuit television cameras at two of the markets hit by bombs. Six explosions hit five separate areas in New Delhi’s bustling business district within minutes of each other yesterday. Nearly 100 people were also wounded in the blasts. Minutes after one of the explosions, police detained an 11-year-old balloon seller who claimed to have seen two men drop a black plastic into a dustbin which then blew up. “They were tall men, wearing black clothes,” the boy told reporters before being taken away by police. India has been placed on high alert following the attack, with security tightened at airports, railway stations and city centers. The Delhi metro system was also shut.
The bombings in New Delhi came after similar attacks in Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad which claimed more than 100 lives and injured many more in recent months. Senior police officials said initial investigations showed that the explosives and timers used in the bombings were similar to the July blasts in Ahmedabad that killed 56 people. Indian cities were placed on high alert as additional police were deployed around vital installations, religious places and market areas in major cities.
In all, five bombs went off in less than half an hour. Two of them in the heart of Delhi in Connaught Place, two at the upscale Greater Kailash M Block market in south Delhi, and one, the most damaging one, in the crowded Ghaffar Market in Karol Bagh. Three more bombs were defused, one of them at the popular Children’s Park in India Gate, indicating the depraved mind of the terrorists. The first blast took place at Ghaffar Market at 6.10 pm. Soon after that, two explosions rocked Connaught Place, one at Barakambha Road near Gopaldas Building at 6.30 pm and the other near the Metro station at the Central Park at 6.31 pm. Almost simultaneously, a blast hit M-block market in Greater Kailash-I near McDonald’s and seven minutes later another bomb went off near Prince Pan Corner in the same market.
All blasts were of low intensity, and the defused bombs suggest they used the cocktail of ammonium nitrate, gun powder, ball bearings and nails, with timer devices, the same kind of bombs that were used in Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad, indicating that it’s the same group that’s wreaking terror across the country.
Badly damaged cars with windows shattered and mangled motorbikes could be seen along with personal belongings, some of them bloodstained, and abandoned shoes. Latest reports said that at least four explosive devices were defused near Indian Gate, the Central Park in Connaught Place and near Regal Cinema. “Everybody is scared and nobody is secure. The situation in Delhi is really bad. It is very difficult to ensure safety and security in Delhi, as there are so many people,” Ramesh Mehra, a Delhi resident, said. “How is it possible to keep a track on people, trace them and arrest them? Nobody can help it, police cant’ help it, the only thing is the moment you catch them they should be hanged then and there.” Media reports said that the e-mail threat purportedly from the so-called Indian Mujahidin was traced to a Mumbai suburb. A similar message sent before a series of bombings which killed at least 45 people in the western city of Ahmedabad in July was also sent through a hacked wireless connection in the region.
India’s NDTV reported the e-mail as saying: “In the name of Allah, the Indian Mujahidin has struck back again.” Little is known about the group who also threw down a challenge to India’s security agencies in the e-mail, saying “do whatever you want and stop us if you can”. Security services have suggested that it may be a front for other groups banned by the government over the past few years, such as the Students’ Islamic Movement of India. Others have said the group could be a loose coalition of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed groups.