Jama Masjid firing: What Chidambaram told Advani

Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Sunday raised the issue of attack on tourists near the Jama Masjid and subsequent explosion in a car at the spot with Home Minister P Chidambaram.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of a function organised by the Islamic Cultural Centre in New Delhi later in the evening.

Motorcycle-borne assailants had fired several rounds at a vehicle carrying foreign tourists, injuring two Taiwanese, near the mosque on Sunday morning.

"I raised the issue of attack on tourist bus in which two tourists were badly injured. Chidambaram told me that while he does not rule out the possibility of a terror attack but it would be too premature to say anything about it," Advani told rediff.com after attending the function.

When asked for comments, Chidambaram politely excused himself.

The home minister refused to talk to the media even earlier in the day when he was visiting the injured persons at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narain hospital and during his short visit to the Delhi Police headquarters.

Meanwhile, adding to his statement, Advani said that the timing of incident at the Jama Masjid was important and that by targeting the tourists a message was being sought to be sent to foreign participants that they should not come to India to take part in the Commonwealth Games to be held from October 3-14.

"We think that it is a serious matter and everything should be done to minimise threat to the Games," he said. 

Sources close to Advani said Chidambaram told him that investigations were on but they were yet to arrive at any "theory" about who could be involved.

Chidambaram reportedly told Advani that the Union government was not taking any chances and both Delhi and Mumbai have been alerted after the attack.

Indian Mujahideen reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack in an e-mail to several news organisations.

However, Delhi Police refuted that claim that IM had anything to do with the attack.

"Let them claim or say anything. But so far we have not found any evidence linking Indian Mujahideen to the attack. So far there is no evidence to link them. The matter is being investigated by the special cell dealing with terror related attack," Rajan Bhagat, Public Relations Officer of Delhi Police, told rediff.com.