Pressure cooker bomb explodes in car near Jama firing spot

Mtoday news

New Delhi, Sep 19: A car went up in flames today when a ’’crudely-circuited’’ pressure cooker bomb exploded metres away from Jama Masjid just hours after an attack there on a vehicle carrying foreign tourists. 

 
The incident took place at around two pm, some 50 metres away from Gate No 3 of Jama Masjid and near a police station where two men had earlier in the day fired at a visiting five-member Taiwanese media crew, injuring two of them.

"The car went up in flames due to a crudely-circuited pressure cooker bomb," a senior police official said.

Investigators suspect the involvement of a "group of disgruntled youth or local criminals" who wanted to create a scare in the area.

Asked whether terrorist groups like Indian Mujahideen could be behind the incident, Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said the pressure cooker bomb was "poorly circuited and crudely assembled".

"It appears to be a local gang or disgruntled youths," he said.
The car has been taken to Jama Masjid police station.

Two fire tenders were rushed to the spot which doused the flames soon. Police had earlier said the fire erupted due to a cylinder blast.

There was some panic in the area as the incident came soon after the firing incident.    The site where the car caught fire is only 50 metres away from the spot where the firing took place.

A team of Delhi Police’s elite anti-terror force Special Cell also visited the spot. 

Indian Mujahideen Suspected To Be Behind Jama Attack

The outlawed Indian Mujahideen is suspected to be behind on Sunday attack on a tourist vehicle near the Jama Masjid here and it has warned of terror strikes during the Commonwealth Games here next month.

The modus operandi in the firing, which left two Taiwanese tourists injured, carries the signature of Indian Mujaheedin, Home Ministry sources said.

 

An e-mail sent in the name of the group to BBC and several other media organisations said, "in the name of Allah, the attack is a tribute to Atif Amin and Mohammed Sajid".

Amin and Sajid were Indian Mujaheedin operatives killed by the police in the Batla House encounter soon after the Delhi serial blasts of September 2008.

"We are warning you. If you have the guts, then organise the Commonwealth Games...We know that preparations are on full swing. Be prepared...We are also making preparations...The participants in the Games will be responsible for the outcome," the e-mail said.

The statement by the IM also denounced the killings of civilians in the Kashmir Valley.

 When contacted, a senior Delhi Police officer said they were not aware of the IM claim.

Believed to be a shadow amalgam of the SIMI and Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Indian Mujahideen has been declared a terrorist organisation by the government and has claimed responsibility for several terror attacks in the country including blasts in Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Pune.

PTI