State of Emergency: Explosions Rock Indian Capital Killing Over 60
PakistanTimes.net Foreign Desk

NEW DELHI (India): Near-simultaneous explosions rocked the Indian capital Saturday evening, tearing through a bus and two markets crowded with people shopping for gifts for a Hindu festival.

Initial reports say that at least 60 people were killed and dozens wounded in the blasts, which the government blamed on terrorists. Police declared a state of emergency and closed all city markets.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged calm while denouncing the apparently coordinated bombings, which came amid unprecedented Indian-Pakistan talks on opening the LoC in Kashmir to facilitate aid for survivors of the region's devastating Oct. 8 earthquake.

"These are dastardly acts of terrorism," Singh said in a brief televised statement. "We shall defeat their nefarious designs and will not allow them to succeed. We are resolute in our commitment to fighting terrorism in all forms."

Several Clues

Asked who was responsible, he would only say "there are several clues." However, the Indian government faces opposition from dozens of groups.

The first explosion hit at 5:45 p.m. in New Delhi's main Paharganj market, leaving behind bloodstained streets and mangled stalls of wood and twisted metal. Within minutes came an explosion at the popular Sarojini Nagar market and the bus blast in the Govindpuri neighborhood. Police said at least 60 people were wounded in the first blast and dozens in the other two.

The attacks targeted the many people shopping just days before the festival of Diwali, a major Hindu holiday during which families exchange gifts, light candles and celebrate with fireworks. The markets where the blasts occurred often sell fireworks that are elaborate and potentially dangerous.

"When I got up, there were people everywhere — they were bleeding and screaming," said Anil Gupta about 45 minutes after the blast as he sifted through the wreckage of his jewelry store. Scattered around his feet were bracelets, necklaces and earrings.

Pakistan Condemns

Pakistan has condemned the multiple attacks in New Delhi. "The attack in a crowded market place is a criminal act of terrorism. The people and government of Pakistan are shocked at this barbaric act and express deep sympathy with the families of the victims," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

The British

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the blasts "yet another example of terrorists' cynical and callous disregard for human life. On behalf of the British government, I would like to offer the people of India my support and deepest sympathy."

It remained unclear what affect the explosions could have on the peace process.

Advice to Indians

Home Minister Shivraj Patil urged people to stay off the streets. "I appeal to you. Please disperse from the markets and go back to your families," he said in a televised address.

Patil said 39 people were killed in Sarojini Nagar, a popular shopping district in southern part of the capital filled with everything from knockoff designer clothing to kitchen crockery. Fire department official Sham Lal said at least 16 people died in the Paharganj market blast, and another three were killed on the bus.

Babu Lal Khandelwal, a shop owner in the Paharganj market, an area near the train station packed with small shops and inexpensive hotels often filled with foreign backpackers, said the blast knocked him to the ground.

"There was black smoke everywhere," he said. "When the smoke was cleared and I could see, there were people bloody and people lying in the street."

The blast occurred in small square in the market and badly damaged a row of shops, including Khandelwal's clothing store. About an hour later, investigators stood around a small, debris-filled crater about 10 feet from the string of shops.

All around, broken glass and other wreckage littered the street, shops signs were ripped and twisted and clothes — mostly T-shirts and scarves — hung from low-strung power lines.

Eye-Witness

A witness to the second blast, Satinder Lal Sharma, said some boys warned him about an unclaimed bag near a tree and he "started shouting 'Run! Run!'" just before the explosion. It destroyed several shops and left the tree charred and without leaves.

Govind Singh, who sells wallets and toys on cart next to a juice shop devastated in the explosion, said at least five people from his village were killed. The explosion was "so loud that I fell down. Then a fire started," he said. "I took out at least 20 bodies, most of them were children," Singh said.

He and others wrapped the bodies in sheets that were being sold by one of the destroyed shops. As he spoke someone asked him, "Where is Lal Chand?" "He is gone," Singh replied, and then started crying.

At Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Dr. S.K. Sharma, the emergency room chief, said his team had received four victims from the first blast who arrived dead and "charred beyond recognition." They were treating another 30 injured from the same explosion, he said.

He explained that burns were not caused by chemicals and most shrapnel injuries were from flying glass — not the screws or ball bearings sometimes packed into crude bombs. As he spoke, an ambulance pulled up and paramedics wheeled more victims into the hospital.●