Terror struck Delhi when a powerful bomb blast ripped through a crowded reception area at the entrance to the High Court Wednesday morning killing nine people and injuring atleast 50.
The explosive device was suspected to kept in a briefcase outside the High Court compound between Gate No. 4 and 5 and went off at around 10.15 AM when 100 to 200 litigants were waiting to get passes to enter the premises.
Some lawyers were also present at that time.Condemning the “terrorst attack”, Home Minister P Chidambaram said in Parliament that nine people were dead and 47 injured, some seriously.Chidambaram announced that the probe into the second bomb blast outside Delhi High Court in four months has been handed over to the National Investigative Agency(NIA). He said the bomb was suspected to have been kept in a briefcase. No one has claimed responsibility fo the blast in the heart of the Capital which left a deep crater.
Union Home Secretary R K Singh said the blast was of “medium to high intensity” and created a “deep crater”.
Asked whether the blast was a terror strike, Singh said “it had all the makings of an Improvised Explosive Device(IED) set up by a terror group.”
Singh said the bomb was kept in a suitcase since some of its remains were still in it.
After the bomb blast, panic-stricken people ran helter-skelter as it was chaos at the High Court premises.