Shopper killed, 33 hurt in Delhi blasts

A woman shopper was killed and 33 others were injured in two blasts in the busy Karol Bagh market of the capital on Sunday evening, the fourth in the series of low intensity explosions that have rocked Delhi this month. Crime branch sources said a third bomb was defused by police shortly after the explosions.

The dead woman was identified as Sonia Arora of Vasant Vihar. Her mother and two other relatives were injured.

Another woman, Sushma (30), lost both her legs when the first explosion took place in a popular eatery, Roshan di Kulfi, where 40 to 50 people were seated.

The second blast took place just 100 metres away but did not cause much damage as people who had collected there had just dispersed. Three people have been arrested.

Though an organisation calling itself the Shaheed Khalsa claimed responsibility for the blasts, police sources claim Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency masterminded the explosions.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Ajay Kashyap said an improvised explosive device had been used.

Most of the injured were taken to the Gangaram hospital, eight to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, three to Lady Hardinge hospital and two to a private nursing home.

Among the 18 who were admitted to Gangaram hospital, the condition of nine was serious while one person was battling for life. Five had been discharged after first aid.

Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, who was attending a wedding, rushed to the hospitals on hearing the news.

The police have arrested three Kashmiri militants, allegedly trained in Pakistan, and seized 1.33 kg of RDX from them. According to Assistant Commissioner of Police L N Rao, the militants of the Tahariq-ul-Mujahideen were on a "blast Delhi" mission.

Those arrested, Mohammed Shafi Dhobi alias Yusuf Khan, Abdul Ahad Bhatt alias Mohammed Yunuf Bhatt and Abdul Rashid Najjar alias Maqbool, all in their early twenties, were arrested on Sunday from a guest house in the Safdarjung enclave area in south Delhi.

Mohamed Shafi admitted during interrogation that he had received training at camp run by the Inter-Services Intelligence in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for about seven months in 1990. He was allegedly sent to Kathmandu by the militant group where he was asked to help send subversive elements into India over the Indo-Nepal border.

An angry chief minister said the continued blasts had made the national capital a 'jungle raj' and the Delhi government could not remain a mute spectator any longer. He would convene a meeting of top police officials and meet the Union home minister, he said.

He said the accountability of the Delhi government would improve if it had charge of law and order also. It was time the Centre realised this fact, Verma said.

Shopkeepers of the area said that earlier that day the police dog squads had combed the area and found nothing suspicious.

The police said the intensity of the bomb that exploded in Roshan di Kulfi was of a higher grade. Besides leaving a crater, the upper floor of the establishment was also badly damaged.

The shocked shop owner said he was sitting at the cash counter when the blasts went off and smoke filled the area. He did not remember much after that. Glass was strewn all around the area.

This is the fourth in the series of blasts that have shaken the national capital. The earlier blasts claimed two lives and injured over 50 people. All the blasts occurred between 7 pm and 8 pm in market places and moving buses.

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