New Delhi - Police in New Delhi hunted Sunday for two
suspects involved in the bombing at a city market as the death toll
rose to three with two more people dying overnight, officials and
news reports said.
Police said two men on a motorcycle and wearing helmets dropped a
black plastic bag containing the explosive in the market in southern
Mehrauli area on Saturday afternoon.
A 13-year-old boy who had picked up the bag to give it back to the
bikers died on the scene as the bomb exploded moments after. At least
22 injured were moved to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
'We are carrying on searches for the bombers and extensive checking
and raids are being conducted across Delhi to arrest them,' Ajay
Kashyap, Joint Commissioner, Delhi Police told reporters.
In a related development, the NDTV network reported that the first
arrest was made in the case when police held a suspect from the Delhi
suburb of Faridabad whose cellular SIM card was used to make calls
threatening further bomb blasts.
The report added that several people were detained from the city's
southern Sangam Vihar area and were being questioned in connection
with the blasts.
A 60-year-old man and another unidentified man succumbed to their
injuries overnight, AIIMS hospital superintendent John Bera told the
PTI news agency. Six other victims were described as 'critical.'
The city was on high alert after the Mehrauli blast which came
exactly two weeks after the Indian capital was rocked by five
synchronized bombings which claimed 24 lives.
But the police did not suspect the Islamist Indian Mujahideen
which claimed responsibility for multiple blasts in Delhi on
September 13 as well as earlier bombings in the Ahmedabad and Jaipur
cities which claimed over 140 lives.
No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Investigators said the explosives used were very different from those
in the earlier blasts.
The explosion came as Indian cities were gearing up for Eid
al-Fitr festivities marking the end of the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan and Hindu festival of lights Diwali next month.
'The city remains on alert and police are keeping tight vigil.
Checking has been increased at important points. Security has been
strengthened at important locations in Delhi,' senior Delhi police
official HGS Dhaliwal said.
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