Three New Delhi explosions kill at least 61
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-30 08:40

Near-simultaneous explosions rocked the Indian capital Saturday evening, tearing through a bus and two markets crowded with people shopping for gifts for a Hindu festival. At least 61 people were killed and dozens wounded in the blasts, which the government blamed on terrorists.

People stand around the site of an explosion in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2005. A series of explosions shook the city on Saturday evening, with blasts tearing through markets jammed with shoppers ahead of an upcoming Hindu festival, officials said. At least 22 people were feared killed, according to officials and television reports. [AP]

Police declared a state of emergency and closed all city markets. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged calm while denouncing the apparently coordinated bombings. The attacks did not prevent an unprecedented India-Pakistan agreement to open the Kashmir border to facilitate aid for survivors of the region's devastating Oct. 8 earthquake.

"These are dastardly acts of terrorism," Singh said in a brief televised statement. "We shall defeat their nefarious designs and will not allow them to succeed. We are resolute in our commitment to fighting terrorism in all forms."

Asked who was responsible, he would only say "there are several clues." The Indian government faces opposition from dozens of militant groups — particularly Kashmiri separatists, some of whom also oppose the peace process between Pakistan and India.

A leading anti-terrorism expert said the timing and nature of the blasts indicates they were the work of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, the most feared militant group in Kashmir.

"It looks like Lashkar. They are the most active group here," said Vikram Sood, the former head of the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.

"These are not entirely unexpected. It is a wake up call for all those who think of open borders" between India and Pakistan.

Delhi state's Chief Minister Sheila Dixit urged people to take precautions.

"Unless you do want to go shopping, please do not go to crowded areas. I am not saying there is a danger, but there could be a danger," she said.

The first explosion hit at 5:45 p.m. in New Delhi's main Paharganj market, leaving behind bloodstained streets and mangled stalls of wood and twisted metal. Within minutes came an explosion at the popular Sarojini Nagar market and a bus blast in the Govindpuri neighborhood. Police said the blasts killed at least 61 people and wounded 188.

The attacks targeted the many people shopping just days before the festival of Diwali, a major Hindu holiday during which families exchange gifts, light candles and celebrate with fireworks. The markets where the blasts occurred often sell fireworks that are elaborate and potentially dangerous.

"When I got up, there were people everywhere — they were bleeding and screaming," Anil Gupta said about 45 minutes after the blast as he sifted through the wreckage of his jewelry store. Scattered around his feet were bracelets, necklaces and earrings.

The explosions erupted just hours after India and Pakistan began the talks on opening the heavily militarized border in disputed Kashmir to help get food, shelter and medical aid to victims of the Himalayan region's quake, which killed about 80,000 people, most in Pakistan.

Opening the border is extremely sensitive for India because of a 16-year insurgency by Islamic militants in Kashmir who seek to make the Indian portion independent or unite it with Pakistan.

Despite the blasts, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said early Sunday that the two sides agreed to open the frontier at five spots beginning Nov. 7. Shipments of aid supplies will be allowed to cross at those points, and Kashmiri civilians will be allowed to cross on foot, with priority given to those with families divided by the border.

Pakistan earlier condemned the multiple attacks in New Delhi.

"The attack in a crowded market place is a criminal act of terrorism. The people and government of Pakistan are shocked at this barbaric act and express deep sympathy with the families of the victims," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also condemned the attacks, which she said were "made more heinous in that they deliberately targeted innocent civilians preparing for holiday celebrations."

Rice said the attacks served as a "another sad reminder that terror knows no borders and respects no religion."

Home Minister Shivraj Patil urged people to stay off the streets. "I appeal to you. Please disperse from the markets and go back to your families," he said in a televised address.

Patil said 39 people were killed in Sarojini Nagar, a popular shopping district in southern part of the capital filled with everything from knockoff designer clothing to kitchen crockery. Fire department official Sham Lal said at least 16 people died in the Paharganj market blast, and three were killed on the bus.

Babu Lal Khandelwal, a shop owner in the Paharganj market, in an area near the train station packed with small stores and inexpensive hotels often filled with foreign backpackers, said the blast knocked him to the ground.

"There was black smoke everywhere," he said. "When the smoke was cleared and I could see, there were people bloody and people lying in the street."

The blast badly damaged a row of shops, including Khandelwal's clothing store. About an hour later, investigators stood around a small, debris-filled crater about 10 feet from the string of shops.

All around, broken glass and other wreckage littered the street, shop signs were ripped and twisted and clothes — mostly T-shirts and scarves — hung from low-strung power lines.

A witness to the second blast, Satinder Lal Sharma, said some boys warned him about an unclaimed bag near a tree and he "started shouting 'Run! Run!'" just before the explosion. It destroyed several shops and left the tree charred and without leaves.

Govind Singh, who sells wallets and toys on cart next to a juice shop devastated in the explosion, said at least five people from his village were killed.

The explosion was "so loud that I fell down. Then a fire started," he said.

"I took out at least 20 bodies, most of them were children," Singh said. He and others wrapped the bodies in sheets that were being sold by one of the destroyed shops.

At Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Dr. S.K. Sharma, the emergency room chief, said his team had received four victims from the first blast who arrived dead and "charred beyond recognition." They were treating 30 injured in the same explosion, he said.