New Delhi, September 27
Exactly a fortnight after three of the Capital’s top markets were targeted by terrorists, a medium-intensity blast ripped through the congested flower market in South Delhi’s Mehrauli area killing at least two and injuring 22 others.

NSG and Delhi police personnel inspect the blast site in a flower market in Mehrauli in South Delhi on Saturday. Tribune photo: Mukesh aggarwal

The injured, including women and children, have been admitted to the trauma centre of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

One of the deceased, 13-year-old Santosh, son of a vendor in the market, reportedly took the full impact of the blast when he picked up the lethal device concealed in a black polythene bag soon after it was dropped by two unidentified persons riding a black Pulsar at about 2.05 pm in front of an electric goods shop. Thinking that the duo had carelessly dropped the bag, the teenager called out after them but they sped away. Within seconds, thick white smoke started coming out of the bag followed by an explosion. Such was the impact that the teenager’s body was dismembered.

A 60-year-old man whose cervical was badly fractured died later in the evening.

The blast created a small crater and damaged several shops in the vicinity.

The entire street in front of the shop was littered with shattered glass pane and twisted and damaged materials from the shop splattered with the victims’ blood.

Hundreds of panic-stricken shopkeepers and residents of the area came out on the streets after hearing the bang.

Visibly angry, the shopkeepers claimed there was no security in the area and the police too tardy in responding after they were informed of the blast. Senior police officers, including the police commissioner Y. S. Dadwal, reached the spot and calmed down the angry residents and appealed to them to maintain peace. The police advised people to avoid congested markets as teams of policemen were scouring these for suspicious objects.

Forensic experts of the National Security Guard’s Bomb Detection Centre and the Delhi Police also examined the sight of the blast and collected pieces of shrapnels from the spots and walls of the shops. The investigators believe that the bomb was locally fabricated. It comprised a tiffin-box stuffed with ammonium nitrate and nails connected to a timer.

Meanwhile, the police said that a massive manhunt has been launched to trace the two suspects who were wearing black T-shirts and black helmets. “There were two people on the motorcycle who dropped the bomb and according to eyewitnesses the pillion rider was wearing black T-shirt and black jeans. The faces could not be seen as they were wearing helmets”, said HGS Dhaliwal, DCP, South District.

The police later claimed to have arrested two suspects in connection with the blasts from the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

There is also speculation that one of the suspects riding the pillion could have been a woman. Today’s blast, which was described officially as of ‘medium intensity,’ has occurred when the police was already on high alert in the wake of recent serial blasts and the forthcoming festival season.

PM shocked
Tribune News Service

New York, September 27
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed shock and sadness over the blast at Mehrauli in South Delhi. His aides are in constant touch with officials in Delhi, monitoring the law and order situation.National Security Adviser MK Narayanan is also in touch with the authorities in Delhi.