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New Delhi, September 13
Terror returned to Delhi on Saturday, nearly three years after the 2005 Diwali bombings. Five blasts in busy marketplaces killed 21 people and left at least 101 injured, many of whom were fighting for their lives in six city hospitals. Bombs wrapped in plastic bags and attached to cheap clock timers went off in Karol Bagh, Connaught Place and M Block market in Greater Kailash I between 6.07 pm and 6.38 pm, targeting festival shoppers and families on weekend outings.Soon after the attacks, Commissioner of Police Y S Dadwal said, “We have vital clues in the blast and it would be cracked very soon.” Later in the evening, police sources said the Special Cell had detained two people, one from Palika Bazar and the other from Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh. Both were said to be activists of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
The first bomb exploded in an autorickshaw at Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh at 6.07 pm, killing 11 people and injuring at least 37. Glasspanes shattered 500 metres away, and a cloud of dust and debris rose that eyewitnesses said made it difficult to see in a 50-metre radius around the blast site for at least the next five minutes. “I saw five people lying dead on the spot, and many others drenched in blood,” said Roshan Lal, who was only a few metres away from the autorickshaw.
Even as people had begun to ferry the victims of the blast to the Sir Ganga Ram, Jessa Ram, Lady Hardinge, Jeevanmala and Ram Manohar Lohia hospitals, came news of two other explosions a few kilometres away in Connaught Place. A bomb went off in a municipal rubbish bin on Barakhamba Road at 6.34 pm, splattering a 20 square-foot area with garbage. Exactly two minutes later, another bomb exploded in Central Park, also in a rubbish bin.
“I was sitting on my chair when suddenly there was a loud bang. Through a thick cloud of smoke, I saw a woman and a sadhu in a pool of blood. The rubbish bin had been ripped apart, and an autorickshaw stood with its glass smashed and roof sagged,” said Puran Singh, who mans an NDMC toilet in front of the blast site on Barakhamba Road. Two buses, a Blueline and a Whiteline, were standing some distance from the bin; the explosion could have been catastrophic if they had been nearer.
At almost exactly the same time as the Connaught Place blasts, two bombs went off in bustling M Block Market in GK I, at 6.36 pm and 6.38 pm. Five people were injured. Police officers said these bombs too had been kept in garbage bins. “As soon as the first blast took place, people panicked and started running here and there. I was speaking to them over the public address system, asking them to assemble in the park, when the second blast took place,” said O P Shardha, municipal councillor of the area.
But Delhi’s Saturday evening nightmare wasn’t over yet. Some young ragpickers found three plastic bags in the Connaught Place area, all of which turned out to be live bombs.
The first of these was discovered in another Central Park garbage bin just after 7 pm, and was defused by the National Security Guard and Bomb Disposal Squads.
At around 7.15, another ragpicker found what he thought was a ticking clock in a rubbish bin outside Regal Cinema on the Outer Circle. Beat Constable Suresh took it from the boy and, after removing a wire, dug it in the ground.
Five minutes later, another ragpicker found a third live bomb, this one in Children’s Park at India Gate, which is normally crowded on weekends. The bomb was defused within 15 minutes. Sometime later, there was information about a suspicious bag on Parliament Street, but it turned out to be a false alarm.
Commissioner Dadwal told The Indian Express: “The terrorists had kept the bombs in bins in plastic bags at four places and bombs were filled with ball bearings, pieces of metal and some sharpnel. We have made all security arrangements, and the city does not need to feel unsafe.”
Police sources said ammonium nitrate had been used in all the bombs, and some gunpowder had been found in M Block Market. The bombs were C-shaped, very similar to the ones used in the Ahmedabad, Surat and Jaipur attacks, they added.
A few minutes after the Connaught Place blasts, a Palika Bazaar security guard noticed two suspicious people in a toilet of the underground market. They tried to flee when challenged, but the guard caught one of them. This man is believed to be one of the suspects, and has been detained for interrogation.
A 12-year-old boy, who was standing nearby, claimed that he had seen two men in black throwing something in the bin. Police took the boy away for questioning and a detailed description of the men. Forensic teams found sharpnel, some ball bearings, a broken mobile phone, a steel box and some chemical explosive from the Barakhamba explosion site.
The attacks have come a week after the Intelligence Bureau wrote to the Delhi Police saying Delhi could be next in line after the terrorist strikes in Jaipur and Ahmedabad. Immediately after the blasts, some news channels received a mail from the ‘Indian Mujahideen’, claiming credit. The mail mentioned that there would be nine blasts in Delhi, and criticised what it said was a skew in media coverage.
Meanwhile, central agencies were believed to have picked up definite clues about the attackers. Investigators suspect that SIMI activist Tauqeer, who was last known to be in Nanded in Maharashtra, is behind the e-mail sent to the media minutes before the blasts. Official sources said the bombs were similar to the ones planted in Surat, using ammonium nitrate. That the devices were planted by a team each is indicated by the fact that the GK I device was placed at a very short distance between M-9 and M-29 shops. The Karol Bagh device appears to have been hurriedly left some distance away from the main Ajmal Khan Road market, they said.
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The inter-religious hate is quite strong amongst our populace between all three major religious communities. This only propels further hate and anger, leading to more violence. The political leadership of BJP recently raised their decibals in Delhil. Such utterances fans more hate amongst people, but does not necessarily lead to effective administration. While asserting our Hindu identity is a good and healthy sign, we are all for it and would thank BJP for being a contributing factor to such an assertion. Undouted,y we face the triple threat of Islamic terror, Maoist terror and induced conversion by Evangelicals. However, it is also necessary to find ways which would enable all citizens to never feel alienated. A qualified inclusive policy measure which makes everybody feel at home, nobody feel threated, while it also enables purposeful anti-terror operation in a quiet mode is required.
We should be kind towards Afzal Guru, we should listen carefully every month to the most competent, brave, tough Home Minister India has ever had when he says 'We should not get provoked and stay calm'. We should continue allowing poor Bangladeshi cross border and settle down in lacs in India. What do these chaps do except vote for our dear Congress when in India. We should also listen to our dear PM when he says 'Pakistan suffers as much against terrorism as India'. We should never point a finger at ISI or against IM lest it hurt the sickular parties of India. Even our children and grand children should listen to our leftist media over the coming decades when they point out that the motive behind every blast is the anger of riots that happened in Gujarat years back. And we should calmly wait till next blasts when again our beloved Home Minister will tell us to stay calm, again our media will justify blasts by citing Gujarat....You get the drift.and the cycle continues
I agree, no political party is to be blamed. As long discontent grows in the country, this will happen
its high time that india will fully ban the outfits like simi,vhp,rss,bajrang dal etc...to stop these gujarats,ahmedabads,jaipurs
The source of all this explosions and discontment that breeds these activities is the growing intolerant Hindu extremism and the organisations like the BJP and the RSS that need to be banned straightaway along with the terrorist organisations.
We are not Rats to affrai, we are Lions,lets get ready for war agains the terrost,let them chop down from their base..we have to strong our S.Services..
hats offf to chanchal kumar
godhara train fire was not started by muslim and yet muslims wrer blaimed and 5000 innocent men women and chldren were massacered none of the culprits including modi and advani were arrested insted innocent young muslims boys were arrested and tourtured and killed in fake incounters before blaming muslims look what the so called hundu terrorist org like rss,vhp are doing to minorities,this delhi bomb blast is also the work of bajarang dal or vhp the motive is obvious for anybody to guess
UPA govt is A.H. Get POTA back and start kicking some asses. And tell Raj T, to go and do something about these people (terrorists
Whoever recently supported SIMI (Mulayam Singh Yadav and Laloo Prasad Yadav) should be directly held responsible for this bomb blast. Until unless we erradicate these anti national politicians , we will never make it to build a safe country.
Without taking political sides, the bomb blasts are serious blows to the ability of Indian government, intelligence agencies and the police. The investigation framework in India is old and very 19th century. Without central intelligence, forensics technology at disposal and central criminal database how can anyone police a big country like India. Unless more money is spent in upgrading law enforcement, Indians should not expect first world security (like that in the UK and US) at third world expenditure (read frugal).In India, better policing and good governance are not electoral issues; instead elections are won based on trivial issues like caste, religion and language. No wonder, terrorists can kill people at whim and then hide behind pseudo secular ideals.
The greatest need of today is to hang in together. If any can improve INDIA are her own common people.
First of all full sympathy with the family friends and the relatives of the innocent victims. Then this horrendous crime must be condemned in the strongest possible terms without any reservation. Exemplary action must be taken against not only the evil organisations behind this cowardly act of terrorism but also against their foreign backers in our neighbourhood, so that they should know that India is not to be messed around with. It is a sad state of affairs because whole of our leadership (Both opposition and in power) suffers from slave mentality and is not willing to take action unless approved by Americans British or the Russians etc. High time India started looking after its own interests like all other nations do. Political class should stop looking after itself and start standing up and getting counted for India.
DEAR READERS I HAVE BEEN READING AND RESPONDING TO ANTI-INDIA AND ANTI-HINDU COMMENTS OF ONE OF MORE PERSONS IN IE COMMENT COLUMN SINCE YESTERDAY FROM USA. SOME OF THE HATEFUL COMENTS ARE STILL THERE. PLEASE PRESSURISE THE EDITOR OF INDIAN EXPRESS TO FORWARD THE EMIAL ADDRSSS OR NAME(S0 OF THOSE . I BELIEVE SOME OF THEM ARE SO-CALLED INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN USING PSUDONAMES. PLEASE CONVEY MY MESSAGE TO DELHI POLICE TO PRESSRE IE TO GIVE EMAIL ADDRESS ASAP BEFORE THEY DISAPPEAR. JAI HIND
No wonder India would remain the softest target of terrorism. And terrorism is now synonymous with Islam. It is true that all Islamists are not terrorists, but all terrorists are Islamists. Democracy has helped them to grow and multiply. Now we have to bear the burnt because our politicians are too much politically correct to address the root cause for this global menace. We should stop repeating the same old analogy of 'good' and 'bad' Islamists. Because there is no 'good Quran' and 'bad Quran'. All Islamists are the product of the one and only 'original' Quran. And it does demand to convert this world from dar-ul-harb to dar-ul-Islam. Therefore the act of all Islamists are logical to them. Is it not time to ponder over the fact that why no terrorist attack took place in USA after 9/11? Should we not learn from them?
We need an Indira Gandhi, who never cared for vote Bank, but put country first. The current Congress leadership is just power hungry and it is solely because of them that these incidents happen again and again!
have anyone heard BIG secular faces like Arundhati Roy, Shabana Azami condemning any of these?
R. I. P
No matter what happens to Indians, ManMORON still loves Afzal Guru and will shield him to his last breath. He will even tie the hands of those who want to fight this menace. What a travesty for a government! He will announce he is going "to fight it with all our might" and then retire into the warm lap of the one who appointed him. Shame on you, ManMORON! But it is useless to cry shame on you; you are entirely shameless. If you had any shame left in you, you would not have consented to become a puppet and you would have resigned long ago!
I just went to PM Web site and tried to submit a letter, but the web site is also like the PM, ineffective, as soon as I write the letter and hit the submit button, I got a Page cannot be found! I am sick of these Hijda 'Hiding behind emails' Terrorists. Shame on you Hijda IM, wear bangles and burqa's. The Menance of Terrorism has to be fought by everyone. Let us follow the example of US. Lets root these Hijda Jath from our midst.
Such a routine now. I just heard our home minister and his appeal to maintain harmony. When has blasts succeeded to shatter the harmony in India. The thug could still only think of his vote bank. This is his standard sentence and I heard it a number of times during the Jammu agitation. Who the hell is responsible for these blasts. Why shouldn't we scrap the home ministry itself. Such a burden on our nation. Patil and his bunch of thugs are not good enough..their highest qualification being Sonia Ganhi's pets.. These people should have been sent across the border.
This is a cowardly acts of SIMI bastards and Muslim terrorists,let thee be no doubt to any Hindus,fight this menace now or succumb to islamic oppression and vile doctrine.Mujahideen have already claimed responsibility for this carnage.
What esle can you expect from a home minister who has to his credit 5 blasts in less than a year.As usual the blame game starts state vs central,empty rhetorics etcAnd this drama watched by millions of citizens who has a dummy PM remote controlled by the most powerful woman on the earth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The recurrence of serial blasts in Delhi has again shown that our security forces are not equal to the task of protecting the lives of ordinary people. It is strange that to meet the challenge of terrorism, states like Gujarat have been seeking tougher anti-terrorism laws without any success. The Centre should enact legislation, which acts as a strong deterrent. In addition, it should go beyond routinely condemning such blasts and take strong anti-terror measures. If the US has been able to prevent repetition of terror strikes post 9/11, there is no reason why we cannot do. We must stop politicizing investigations and take stringent action against those suspected of holding the nation to ransom. It is ironical that the terror group indulging in heinous attacks calls itself "Indian" Mujahedeen but the politicians cannot think beyond communal lines. Our politicians should learn to look beyond minority vote banks and treat the issu
I am surprised that Yadavs Gandhis Patils have not yet come out with statements like our Muslim brothers have not done these, but RSS and Sangh are behind it.