Five explosions rock Delhi, 21 dead, many injured

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.