A bomb hidden in a briefcase exploded yesterday outside a crowded entrance to a New Delhi courthouse, killing 11 people and wounding scores more in the deadliest attack in India’s capital in nearly three years.
The blast near a gate at the High Court, the second at the building in five months, came despite a high alert in the city. It renewed doubts about India’s ability to protect even its most important institutions despite a security overhaul that followed the 2008 Mumbai siege.
“There was smoke everywhere. People were running. People were shouting. There was blood everywhere. It was very, very scary,” said Sangeeta Sondhi, a lawyer, who was parking her car near the gate when the bomb exploded.
A Muslim militant group claimed responsibility for the blast in an e-mail, but investigators said it was too early to name any group as suspects. The government rallied Indians to remain defiant in the face of such attacks.
“We will never succumb to the pressure of terrorists,” Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said during a visit to neighboring Bangladesh. “This is a long war in which all political parties and all the people of India will have to stand united so that this scourge of terrorism is crushed.”
The bomb exploded at about 10:14am near a line of more than 100 people waiting at a reception counter for passes to enter the court building to have their cases heard.
The High Court is an appeals panel below India’s Supreme Court. On May 25, a small explosion that appeared to be a failed car bomb erupted in the court’s parking lot.
The latest blast shook the courthouse, sending lawyers and judges fleeing outside, said Sanjiv Narula, a lawyer who was in the building.
People ran to the blast site to assist the injured, piling them into auto-rickshaws to take them to hospital. Officials said the blast killed 11 people and wounded 59 others.
An e-mail sent to several TV news channels claimed the bombing on behalf of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, an Islamic extremist group said to be based in Pakistan that has been blamed for numerous terror strikes in India.
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