DELHI ATTACKED
Sidharth Mishra / New Delhi
*Terrorists strike on dhan teras eve... *5 serial explosions... *55 dead, 164 hurt and still counting in... ----------Terrorists struck terror in the Capital on Saturday evening at will, killing at least 55 and injuring more than 164 people in five serial blasts. Many have suffered grievous injuries and may not survive.
Paying a heavy price for the lack lustre Government policy vis-à-vis subversives, a large number of women and children out shopping for Diwali on the eve of Dhan Teras fell prey to multiple terror attacks carried out with detailed planning and precision.
In all, five blasts took place- three killing 40 people in the crowded retail market of Sarojini Nagar in South-West Delhi, one leaving 15 people dead in the wholesale market of Paharganj in the Walled City and one on a moving bus in Govindpuri area in South Delhi.
Tragedy was averted in another crowded market, Chandni Chowk, where an explosive device was spotted and defused before it could explode. The police also found a bomb in Ambedkar Nagar bus depot late in the evening and defused it.
The explosions took place within minutes of each other with the first device going off at Sarojini Nagar at 5.45 pm. Since the powerful explosion occurred near a crowded snack bar, a gas cylinder was thought to have caused it. However, the magnitude of the blast and two other explosions that followed more than clarified that it was the doing of terror groups.
The blasts in Paharganj and Govindpuri completed the big picture - Delhi attacked on the day punishment was to be pronounced on Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operatives who had carried out the terrorist attack on Red Fort four years ago. A city court on Saturday, however, decided to keep the pronouncement of sentence in the Red Fort case reserved till Monday.
Veteran nurses of Safdarjung Hospital, who have tended to victims of several tragedies in the past, found Saturday's catastrophe unprecedented. Children who had gone shopping with their mothers were brought to the burns casualty wing of the hospital in ashes. Most had died, the few who survived have little chance of pulling through .
Sources in Delhi Police have not ruled out the role of Lashkar in Saturday's attacks. This is not the first time that the Lashkar has struck in the Capital during the festival season. In 1997, the Lashkar had struck in Karol Bagh, a market place not very far from Paharganj.
The 1997 attack was targeted at Roshan Ki Kulfi, a famous and crowded snack bar of the area. The difference being that Lashkar, then an emerging outfit, had used an indigenous device. Not surprising that a decade later, police sources said, the Lashkar has once again chosen to strike at a crowded snack bar. This time at Sarojini Nagar.
The Lashkar, a better-organised group now, this time struck with RDX, several times more potent than the indigenous device used earlier. The stark difference between then and now is highlighted by the casualties. The Roshan Ki Kulfi incident had just three casualties.
It goes to the discredit of the security agencies, including Delhi Police, that the terrorists have managed to strike for the second time in the Capital within six months after keeping a low profile since the attack on Parliament in 2001. In May this year, twin blasts took place in crowded cinema halls in Central and West Delhi, marking the return of terror to the Capital.
Investigations in the twin blasts unearthed role of Jagtar Singh Hawara, the Babbar Khalsa operative who had earlier escaped from Burail Jail of Chandigarh and plotted his next move sitting right under the nose of Punjab Police.
While a cagey Union Home Minister has said that he would wait for an inquiry report, the BJP has warned that Delhi has turned into a hotbed of operations carried out by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan.
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said the blasts were not an accident and an inquiry would be conducted to ascertain as to who was behind them. "There have been blasts at three places and it is not an accident," Mr Patil told newspersons.
Alleging failure of the Home Ministry behind the serial blasts in the Capital, the BJP demanded that the Government take all "actions and precautions" to prevent their recurrence. "Delhi has become the den of terrorists. Hundreds of terrorists, ISI agents and Pakistanis have been arrested and huge quantity of arms and explosives including RDX seized in the recent past. Necessary precautions should have been taken by the authorities," BJP's Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha V K Malhotra said.
Haryana, meanwhile, sounded a high alert and Punjab and Chandigarh stepped up security in the wake of the serial blasts in the Capital. "Security at vital installations like bus stands, railway stations and other sensitive areas had been intensified with the deployment of additional force and checking stepped up at barriers," Haryana Inspector-General of Police Nirmal Singh said.
"Buses might be used by escaping criminals to flee and we are keeping a special eye on this. All outgoing and incoming vehicles to Delhi are being thoroughly checked," he told reporter. Patrolling was intensified on highways, especially national highway number 1, GT Road at Panipat and at Karnal. Similar precautions were being taken in the suburbs of Uttar Pradesh like Ghaziabad and Noida.
Bombers’ trail
5:38 pm
Paharganj in Walled City
Dead----15
Injured-84
Bomb may have been on a bike parked near Mahalaxmi Jewellers
5:45 pm
Sarojini Nagar in South Delhi
DeaD-----40
Injured---71
Chaat corner in Central Square of market bombed
5:52 pm
Govindpuri in South Delhi
Injured---09
DTC bus on Mudrika route bombed
*Terrorists strike on dhan teras eve... *5 serial explosions... *55 dead, 164 hurt and still counting in... ----------Terrorists struck terror in the Capital on Saturday evening at will, killing at least 55 and injuring more than 164 people in five serial blasts. Many have suffered grievous injuries and may not survive.
Paying a heavy price for the lack lustre Government policy vis-à-vis subversives, a large number of women and children out shopping for Diwali on the eve of Dhan Teras fell prey to multiple terror attacks carried out with detailed planning and precision.
In all, five blasts took place- three killing 40 people in the crowded retail market of Sarojini Nagar in South-West Delhi, one leaving 15 people dead in the wholesale market of Paharganj in the Walled City and one on a moving bus in Govindpuri area in South Delhi.
Tragedy was averted in another crowded market, Chandni Chowk, where an explosive device was spotted and defused before it could explode. The police also found a bomb in Ambedkar Nagar bus depot late in the evening and defused it.
The explosions took place within minutes of each other with the first device going off at Sarojini Nagar at 5.45 pm. Since the powerful explosion occurred near a crowded snack bar, a gas cylinder was thought to have caused it. However, the magnitude of the blast and two other explosions that followed more than clarified that it was the doing of terror groups.
The blasts in Paharganj and Govindpuri completed the big picture - Delhi attacked on the day punishment was to be pronounced on Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operatives who had carried out the terrorist attack on Red Fort four years ago. A city court on Saturday, however, decided to keep the pronouncement of sentence in the Red Fort case reserved till Monday.
Veteran nurses of Safdarjung Hospital, who have tended to victims of several tragedies in the past, found Saturday's catastrophe unprecedented. Children who had gone shopping with their mothers were brought to the burns casualty wing of the hospital in ashes. Most had died, the few who survived have little chance of pulling through .
Sources in Delhi Police have not ruled out the role of Lashkar in Saturday's attacks. This is not the first time that the Lashkar has struck in the Capital during the festival season. In 1997, the Lashkar had struck in Karol Bagh, a market place not very far from Paharganj.
The 1997 attack was targeted at Roshan Ki Kulfi, a famous and crowded snack bar of the area. The difference being that Lashkar, then an emerging outfit, had used an indigenous device. Not surprising that a decade later, police sources said, the Lashkar has once again chosen to strike at a crowded snack bar. This time at Sarojini Nagar.
The Lashkar, a better-organised group now, this time struck with RDX, several times more potent than the indigenous device used earlier. The stark difference between then and now is highlighted by the casualties. The Roshan Ki Kulfi incident had just three casualties.
It goes to the discredit of the security agencies, including Delhi Police, that the terrorists have managed to strike for the second time in the Capital within six months after keeping a low profile since the attack on Parliament in 2001. In May this year, twin blasts took place in crowded cinema halls in Central and West Delhi, marking the return of terror to the Capital.
Investigations in the twin blasts unearthed role of Jagtar Singh Hawara, the Babbar Khalsa operative who had earlier escaped from Burail Jail of Chandigarh and plotted his next move sitting right under the nose of Punjab Police.
While a cagey Union Home Minister has said that he would wait for an inquiry report, the BJP has warned that Delhi has turned into a hotbed of operations carried out by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan.
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said the blasts were not an accident and an inquiry would be conducted to ascertain as to who was behind them. "There have been blasts at three places and it is not an accident," Mr Patil told newspersons.
Alleging failure of the Home Ministry behind the serial blasts in the Capital, the BJP demanded that the Government take all "actions and precautions" to prevent their recurrence. "Delhi has become the den of terrorists. Hundreds of terrorists, ISI agents and Pakistanis have been arrested and huge quantity of arms and explosives including RDX seized in the recent past. Necessary precautions should have been taken by the authorities," BJP's Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha V K Malhotra said.
Haryana, meanwhile, sounded a high alert and Punjab and Chandigarh stepped up security in the wake of the serial blasts in the Capital. "Security at vital installations like bus stands, railway stations and other sensitive areas had been intensified with the deployment of additional force and checking stepped up at barriers," Haryana Inspector-General of Police Nirmal Singh said.
"Buses might be used by escaping criminals to flee and we are keeping a special eye on this. All outgoing and incoming vehicles to Delhi are being thoroughly checked," he told reporter. Patrolling was intensified on highways, especially national highway number 1, GT Road at Panipat and at Karnal. Similar precautions were being taken in the suburbs of Uttar Pradesh like Ghaziabad and Noida.
Bombers’ trail
5:38 pm
Paharganj in Walled City
Dead----15
Injured-84
Bomb may have been on a bike parked near Mahalaxmi Jewellers
5:45 pm
Sarojini Nagar in South Delhi
DeaD-----40
Injured---71
Chaat corner in Central Square of market bombed
5:52 pm
Govindpuri in South Delhi
Injured---09
DTC bus on Mudrika route bombed
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