Audacious attack in heart of Delhi
Terrorists executed an audacious strike in the national capital by triggering a powerful explosion outside the Delhi high court on Wednesday morning, leaving at least 11 persons dead and over 70 injured. The toll is likely to rise as many were critically injured. The terror outfit Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami (HuJI) claimed responsibility for the blast.
Both security and intelligence agencies were clearly caught napping on Wednesday, especially considering that Wednes-day’s blast is the second one to have hit the high court in recent months. The previous one, on May 25 this year, was a low-intensity explosion so no one died or was injured. Senior government sour-ces said the blast perpetrators considered the high court an easy target.
A nationwide alert was issued following the blast. Secretary (internal security) U.K. Bansal said all entry and exit routes to the capital have been put under extensive surveillance and checking and vigorous investigations are underway, including checking of guest houses, hotels, sarais, bus stands, railway stations and at airports. “The Delhi police, too, is on high alert and an alert has been sent out to all states to enforce all possible precautions in sensitive areas,” Mr Bansal said.
Prime Minister Manmoh-an Singh who returned from his two-day Dhaka visit tonight went straight to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital to visit the injured. Union home minister P. Chidambaram, too, met the injured and said he was “deeply sorry” for their suffering.
Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who visited RML on Wednesday night, had to face the angry relatives of the dead for what they said was an inordinate delay in handing them the bodies.
The terrorists had chosen their day well. It being Wednesday, public interest litigation day at the HC, the place was more crowded than usual. The “high-intensity” blast occurred outside the high court compound, near Gate 5, at around 11.15 am, when between 100 and 200 litigants were waiting in the reception area for entry passes.
According to eyewitnesses, the bomb was in a suitcase carried by a young man in a white shirt who was accompanied by another man. The powerful explosion left a two-foot-wide and one-foot-deep crater.
After the blast, panic-stricken people ran helter-skelter within and outside the court. The injured lay on the ground amid limbs and flesh strewn about.
Investigations by the NIA, CFSL and post-blast team of the NSG indicated the use of nitrate-based explosives with traces of PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate). The probe has been handed over to the NIA whose chief, Mr S.C. Sinha, said a 20-member team headed by a DIG has been formed. The Delhi government and police have been asked to assist.
The NIA is verifying the authenticity of messages received by media channels claiming responsibility. “Our demand is that Afzal Guru’s death sentence should be repealed immediately else we would target major high courts & THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA (sic),” it said.
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