The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, May 10, 2001,
Chandigarh, India

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Two bomb blasts near Army HQ
Syed Ali Ahmed

New Delhi, May 9
A week after a crude bomb was discovered in the famous Palika Bazar, two bombs exploded near Sena Bhavan in the heart of the Capital today, injuring a 56-year-old man.

Mr R.P. Singh, who sustained splinter injuries in his chest and mouth, is recuperating in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

The first explosion occurred at 3.07 p.m. at the parking lot of the Army Headquarters canteen, opposite Sena Bhavan. The second explosion took place at 3.14 p.m. in a garbage dumped under a neem tree near gate number two of the Bhavan, just behind the Prime Minister’s Office.

The first bomb is supposed to have been kept on the carrier of a cycle at the Army Headquarters' canteen. The cycle and a Hero Honda motor cycle were damaged. As the bombs exploded there was panic among the passersby and employees in various government offices located in the area. Top police officials and forensic experts reached the spot and the entire area was cordoned off.

The investigators at the spot also recovered two timer devices, one nine volt battery and a detonator wire and lifted samples of the remnants.

The security personnel detained a person from near the spot immediately after the blast and whisked him away. However, he looked like a Kashmiri.

Anti-sabotage squads also sanitised the area to make sure that there was no other bomb planted in the high-security area.

Mr R.P. Singh, an employee in the Army Headquarters canteen sustained injuries as he was standing near the cycle on which the bomb was apparently kept. The Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi Range), Mr Suresh Roy, said the blasts were of “low intensity” and were triggered with crude bombs similar to the one recovered from North Block on April 10.

While not ruling out the involvement of militants in today’s bomb explosion, Mr Roy said: “It is too early to name the militant group involved in the twin blasts.”

It may be recalled that soon after the January 21 Red Fort shoot-out incident the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Toiba militant outfit had made an open threat to strike at vital installations in the Capital, including the Prime Minister’s Office.

Even as the Special Cell in tandem with the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police began a probe into the blasts, senior police officials expressed apprehensions that the anti-national elements could trigger more blasts in the Capital.

An eye witness, Mr Kishan Arora, who is working in Sena Bhavan, said when the bomb exploded only one person was standing near the cycle. He fell down just after the blast. “Though the explosion was not of high intensity we thought that there was something wrong. The next moment we saw the person standing near the cycle, lying on the ground”.

He said it is very difficult to find out the culprit as it is a public place.

An Army official said only traffic is managed by the Army in this area. It is not responsible for the security. The Delhi Police is responsible for the security in the area.

Delhi blasts expose intelligence failure
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 9
The twin blasts triggered by anti-national elements today near the high security Sena Bhavan has once again exposed the failure of intelligence network and the ineptness of security arrangement in highly sensitive installations in the Capital.

The twin blasts triggered in a gap of seven minutes, which luckily injured only one person, is a big slap on Delhi Police and other security agencies as the Union Home Ministry had directed them to take adequate precautions especially after the January 21 Red Fort shooting incident in which two civilians and a Rajputana Rifles guard was shot dead by suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba militants.

Soon after the Red Fort incident, the Union Home Ministry had also directed the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to provide security in all Central Government establishments and by early February the CISF had taken over for security nearly 40 buildings in the Capital.

Even as the CISF personnel stood guard on vital buildings and installations, a high-intensity 4.5 kilogram Improvised Explosive Device (IED) neatly packed in a large Milton tiffin carrier and wrapped in a yellow polythene bag was found on April 10 night, lying on the footboard of a scooter in front of the Finance Ministry in the high security North Block area, which is just a stone’s throw away from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Luckily, the bomb was detected by the owner of the scooter, who promptly informed the police. Moreover, the 9 Volt Duracell battery used to complete the detonation circuit was weak.

The CISF personnel on duty here had clear instructions to maintain a ‘visible’ vigil around the high-profile offices that flank Rajpath at the Rashtrapati Bhavan-end.

While the Delhi Police is still looking for clues to identify the culprits behind today’s blast, Home Ministry sources said the Intelligence and security agencies have found evidence that Kashmiri militant outfits, especially the Hizbul Mujahideen, is expanding its network by organising training camps outside the Valley.

Most of these camps were being organised in Uttar Pradesh around cities like Agra, Aligarh, Kanpur and Shahjahanpur, sources said adding that Hizbul Mujahideen, as compared to other Kashmiri militant outfits, is said to have specialised in manufacturing high-intensity explosives.

Some intelligence inputs have also indicated towards the new strategy adopted by Pak-ISI to create disturbance in the country. “Let Indians kill Indians is the new strategy the ISI has adopted. The change in the ISI strategy, especially in Delhi, is due to the fact that its own men face the risk of being quickly spotted. Further they do not want to risk their own operatives every time, considering the time and cost involved in training them,” sources said.