Gunmen on motorbikes shot at a tourist bus near the main mosque in the Indian capital yesterday, wounding two Taiwanese visitors in an attack only weeks before the city hosts the Commonwealth Games.
The Commonwealth Games is seen as a showcase event for India as it emerges onto the global economic and diplomatic stage. Some militant groups have threatened to disrupt the Games.
“The two men were wearing helmets and raincoats. They fired indiscriminately at a tourist bus before escaping,” K. Singh, a senior police officer in New Delhi, told reporters.
PHOTO: AFP
Six Taiwanese were boarding the bus on a visit to Jama Masjid when the shooting happened, the vehicle’s driver said. The historic mosque in the old congested part of the capital is one of New Delhi’s most popular tourist attractions. The police have cordoned off the area.
Security has been tightened in the capital ahead of the Games, with authorities mindful of Islamist militant attacks in Indian cities over recent years in which dozens have been killed. Police would not confirm whether militants were behind the attack. In 2006, at least seven people were injured when two blasts rocked the same area.
Doctors said the condition of the wounded was stable and one of them was undergoing surgery in hospital.
In Taipei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Spokesman James Chang (章計平) confirmed that the two tourists were Taiwanese.
Chang said that one of the men was wounded in the abdomen, while a bullet grazed the head of the other Taiwanese.
The former underwent surgery, Chang said, adding that the injuries of the two men were “under control.”
Chang said that the ministry’s staffers based in New Delhi rushed to the hospital right after learning of the shooting to offer assistance. The Indian government offered an apology over the incident, he added.
Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS said the two men were employed as its camera crew.
Chang said the shooting looked “random” for the time being, but he urged the Indian government to investigate the case and complete the probe as soon as possible.
“There was some firing outside gate No. 3 of Jama Masjid,” New Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told reporters. “We can’t say [whether it was a militant attack].”
There have been some militant attacks in India this year. In February, a powerful blast ripped through a restaurant in the western city of Pune, killing 17 people. India has blamed the Indian Mujahidin, a homegrown militant group with links to militants in Pakistan, for the Pune attack.
“All that I can appeal to everybody is, please do not panic. An incident like this is something worrying but nothing to panic about,” Chief Minister of Delhi Shiela Dikshit said.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
RSS