Delhi markets evacuated after blasts

New Delhi: Major commercial areas in the capital were evacuated soon after serial terror blasts took place on Saturday evening.

"All bombs exploded at busy market places. So as a precautionary measure we have asked people to evacuate market places and stay at home," Y.S. Dadwal, the Delhi Police commissioner, said .

Ashok Randhawa, president of the Sarojini Nagar Market Association, said: "We have asked people to evacuate the area as soon as possible and asked all shop owners to shut down their shops."

The blasts took place at the busy Connaught Place in central Delhi, at south Delhi's Greater Kailash 1 market and at Gaffar Market in central Delhi.

Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra reached the M-block market of south Delhi's Greater Kailash I and said: "It is a shameful act and people who are behind this are cowards. Security at this market is already up with the installation of metal detectors and police patrolling. But if such incidents are happening despite these security arrangements, we should increase the security."

Appeal for calm

She requested people to calm down and fight back the terror situation.

Vandana Babbar, joint secretary of the Greater Kailash I Market Association, said: "There were eight security guards there deployed by the association, CCTV cameras were on. Soon after the first blast, announcements were made telling people to rush to a park that was centrally located, and at that point of time the second blast took place."

One bomb exploded in a newly constructed park in the centre of the Connaught Place roundabout, built above one of the main stations of the Delhi Metro.

Police closed down the Metro and major markets in the city as a precaution.

Another bomb went off in a dustbin near a metro station entrance on a main arterial road leading into the area, housing the offices of several foreign banks and multinational companies.

Injured people were carried away in police vans while a three-wheeler auto-rickshaw parked near one dustbin was badly damaged, witnesses said.

"It was a huge blast," said another witness, Sanjeev Gole. "I was around the corner from the road. I came running down and I saw at least four to five people lying on the road."

Other attacks came in the Gaffar Market area of Karol Bagh, which is a busy area full of electronics shops and is packed at weekends, and in Greater Kailash 1, home to restaurants and high-end retail outlets.

Broadcasts showed badly damaged cars with windows shattered at one site, with mangled motorbikes alongside personal belongings, some of them bloodstained, and abandoned shoes.

Wounded people were shown being carried away by rescuers, one leaving a trail of blood on the ground.

Hundreds of people milled around as police cordoned off the sites of the explosions, with some people angry that authorities had failed to prevent the blasts.

The deadliest attack in recent years came in July 2006, when seven bombs exploded on Mumbai's railway system killing more than 180 people.

The last major attack to hit the capital was in 2005, when about 66 people were killed when three bombs exploded in busy markets.

Networks jammed

Mobile phone network were jammed yesterday, as people were frantically trying to know about the well-being of their friends and relatives. People complained that they were unable to call their friends and relatives to ascertain their well-being.

A spokesman of Bharati Airtel, one of the largest private mobile services in India, denied network services were jammed.

Efforts to contact other mobile services were not successful.

"I was trying to call my sister who works in Gopal Das Bhawan (one of the blasts occurred in front of the building) but was unable to reach her," Sunanda Roy, a writer, said.

Usually after terrorist attacks, phone services are barred on instruction by security agencies.

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- IANS