Terror strikes Delhi again, 11 dead in HC blast

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New Delhi: The national capital was once again the target of a terror strike when a high intensity bomb blast outside the Delhi High Court on Wednesday killed 11 people and injured 76 others. The bomb, reportedly a combination of ammonium nitrate and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and planted by terror group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) in a suitcase, exploded at 10:14 AM outside Delhi High Court's Gate No. 5 where more that 100 litigants had gathered for passes to enter the court's premises. 

What made planting of the bomb in one of the most high security area an easy job was the fact that there were no CCTV cameras installed at the gate. Even the metal detectors and scanners were not functioning making the task of checking and frisking hundreds of litigants, lawyers and visitors a tough job for the security personnel.



Unlike most of the recent bomb blasts, the terror strike at the High Court was carried out in the morning and the day was also carefully chosen as Wednesday is one of the heaviest days of court business because it is the day when Public Interest Litigations (PILs) are filed.

Even though Home Minister P Chidamabarm said in the Lok Sabha that the terror group behind the dastardly attack has not been identified an e-mail sent from the id harkatuljihadi2011@gmail.com claimed that HuJI had carried out the blast in retaliation of Parliament attack Afzal Guru's death sentence.

The investigations into the blast will be carried out by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). NIA chief SC Sinha announced that a team of 20 officials will investigate the case.

What is extremely worrying is the blast took place in a high security area with Parliament, the Prime Minister's Office and India Gate in the vicinity and comes less than four months after an explosion took outside the same complex.

The injured were taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and Lok Nayak Jay Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital with some of them reportedly in a critical condition.

The Delhi government announced that Rs 4 lakh would be given as compensation for families who have lost adult members and Rs 1.5 lakh to families who have lost minors. The seriously injured will get Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 will be given to those who sustained minor injuries. Those permanently incapacitated in the blast will get Rs 2 lakh.

Wednesday's attack is the worst terror attack in the capital since the triple blasts on September 13, 2008 in which 25 people were killed. On September 13, 2008 serials blasts had rocked Karol Bagh, Connaught Place and Greater Kailash in the capital in which over 150 people were injured.

Helpline numbers: Safdarjung Hospital: 011-26707444
RML Hospital: 011-23348200, 23404446, 23743769, 23404478
AIIMS: 011-26588700