Multiple Bomb blasts in New Delhi, Hundreds killed
Delhi Rocked by 3 Blasts; Toll at 41 (Update3)
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Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) – India’s capital New Delhi was rocked by three explosions that killed at least 41 people and injured hundreds in crowded market places as people shopped for the main Hindu festival of Diwali and the Muslim festival of Eid.
The death toll is likely to rise, Home Minister Shivraj Patil told reporters in New Delhi today. Television channels such as NDTV 24x7 have put the toll as high as 65. The home minister said at least 50 people had been injured.
The blasts left men, women and children with burns, bruises and broken limbs as they tried to escape, eyewitnesses said on television channels. Patil said he wasn’t in a position to say who was responsible for the attacks. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
No condemnation is too strong for this terrorist attack,'' Patil said, speaking in Hindi. All the incidents are being investigated. The priority is to help people.‘’
The government will step up security to ensure that the festival season passes off peacefully, Patil said. The next of kin of those killed will be given immediate relief of 300,000 rupees ($6,650), the minister said.
The explosions are the deadliest in the Indian capital city since a suicide attack on the country’s parliament on Dec. 13, 2001, that left 12 people dead. India blamed that attack on Pakistani-backed Kashmiri separatist groups. Pakistan had denied any involvement, saying it only lends moral support to the Kashmiri freedom struggle.
India, Pakistan Talks
The explosions come at a time when India and Pakistan are discussing the possibility of opening the border that divides the territory of Kashmir, which was devastated in this month’s earthquake. The two sides have been seeking to ease tensions since April 2003, after coming close to another war in the previous year.
India will win the battle against terrorism,'' Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement from the eastern city of Kolkata. The target is clearly the innocent citizens. Efforts to spread chaos and disturb peace will not be allowed to succeed at any cost.‘’
Prime Minister Singh was cutting short his visit to Kolkata to return to the capital, said Y.S.R. Murthy, spokesman at the Prime Minister’s Office.
The first of the three explosions hit Paharganj, adjacent to the New Delhi train station and the central Connaught Place commercial district at 5:30 p.m., New Delhi police spokesman Ravi Pawar told Bloomberg. The blast was ``very powerful,‘’ he said. Explosions followed at Sarojini Nagar market and Govindpuri, both southern areas crowded with Diwali shoppers.
Market Fire
Fire engulfed the Sarojini Nagar market, which typically stocks clothes, garments and firecrackers for the Diwali festival, leaving as many as 37 dead. About 15 died in the Paharganj explosion, television news channels said.
The main Diwali holiday is on Nov. 1, while Eid will be celebrated at the end of next week.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry condemned the attack in a statement issued in Islamabad .
``We hope a thorough investigation will be carried out and the perpetrators of this act of terrorism will be brought to justice,‘’ Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.
The attackers may have timed the blasts to coincide with the talks on opening the border. These talks come after India sent relief materials to Pakistan to assist the survivors of the Oct. 8 quake that killed more than 54,000 people and injured 77,000 in Pakistan.
`Symbolism’
``There is a symbolism in the attack. It seems to be an attempt to sow discord when civil society on both sides is showing greater compassion,‘’ said C. Uday Bhaskar, officiating director at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, a New Delhi-based society that studies strategy and security.
Blame can only be apportioned after an inquiry into the blasts, an Indian analyst said.
```India will have the usual suspicions but it is important to investigate now and then take action,‘’ said independent political analyst B.G. Verghese. ``I don’t think we should follow the beaten path of blaming terrorists based in Pakistan all the time. It’s important to investigate before we jump to conclusions.‘’
The talks aren’t likely to be affected by the blasts.
``I’m cautiously optimistic there is enough resilience to carry dialogue forward,‘’ Bhaskar said.
The victims were taken to the Safdarjung, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia and Lady Hardinge Medical College hospitals.
Phone Calls, Traffic
In New Delhi, telecommunications were disrupted as an increase in the number of calls meant some mobile and land-line phone calls couldn’t be completed. Television channels were running text messages of people seeking to contact friends and relatives after the blasts. Traffic in the city of 13 million people was disrupted as shoppers were asked to return home from markets by the police.
One of the communist allies of the government condemned the attacks in the capital.
We should isolate and fight the terrorists,'' said D. Raja, secretary of the Communist Party of India, in a phone interview. It shows how much India suffers from cross-border terrorism.‘’
Prime Minister Singh’s United Progressive Alliance coalition, led by the Congress party, relies on support from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc for a majority in parliament.
It’s not the first time India’s biggest cities have been targets of terrorist attacks.
In August 2003, car bombs a few minutes apart in a crowded bullion market and outside a hotel in India’s financial capital of Mumbai killed at least 44 people.
In 1993, a dozen explosions – including blasts at the Mumbai stock exchange, Air India’s Mumbai headquarters and the Centaur Hotel – killed more than 250 people and injured 500.