New Delhi: A 55-year-old man, P Patra, died this evening taking the death toll in yesterday's Delhi High Court blast to 13. Many of the 73 injured are battling for their lives.
Eight patients have undergone reconstructive surgery, there are seven other trauma patients, five patients in the Intensive Care Unit, 12 in the surgical ward and 13 of the injured have been discharged. Most of the injuries were to the lower part of the body due to the impact of the blast.
Mr Patra was in the Intensive Care Unit of the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. 40-year-old Pramod Kumar from Loni in Ghaziabad died at 7 am today at the same hospital.
Doctors at RML have expressed concern at the number of VVIPs visiting the hospital. They said there was a fear of infection spreading with too many visitors.
Angry relatives of those admitted at RML after the High Court blast protested loudly when an endless stream of politicians came visiting yesterday - there was Rahul Gandhi, LK Advani, Sheila Dikshit and many others. They heckled Mr Gandhi and raised slogans against Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.
On Wednesday, a bomb placed in a briefcase exploded at a reception area of the Delhi High Court, where hundreds of people had queued to enter the court premises. The bomb was so powerful that it drove a huge crater into the ground. Chaos reigned as emergency services tried to get in to help in a narrow lane leading to the blast site along with construction work, hampering their work.
Soon, the police released two sketches of the terrorist who eyewitnesses say placed the bomb. But the details are extremely vague. In fact, according to the police, the man could be between 25 to 50 years old, light-skinned, bearded, and thin or stout.
Investigators are focusing on tracing an email purportedly sent by the Bangladesh-based terror group Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) yesterday owning responsibility for the blast. A cyber cafe owner in Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir was questioned and detained. Two other people have also been detained and police sources say a young man who frequented the cyber cafe might have sent the email. Efforts are on to track him down.
The explosion took place at 10.15 am - "rush hour" for the courthouse which usually starts hearings at 10.30 am. On Wednesday, Public Interest Litigations (PIL) are heard in the High Court, drawing larger than usual crowds. In the seconds after the blast, lawyers and litigants were seen running for help, their blood-soaked clothes clinging to them. "I heard a loud noise and smoke coming out following by cries of people," said Narendra Kumar Singh, a guard at a construction site outside the court.
Two kilos of explosives were used in the bomb, said UK Bansal, Special Secretary in the Home Ministry, adding that ammonium nitrate was used; so was high-grade PETN which is an extremely powerful explosive which can cause considerable damage even if used in small quantities.
Amid the grief, there is anger as the blame game began over the shocking story of key lapses. A minor explosion had taken place at almost the same spot outside the Delhi High Court in May, but it did not cause any injury. Intelligence agencies now say this was a dry run or rehearsal for yesterday. The May incident has also been handed over to the National Investigating Agency (NIA) to investigate now.
The incident in May had underscored the need for security cameras. Yet, security wasn't increased. No CCTV cameras have been installed outside the court's nine different gates.
The police said the proposal to install security cameras was stuck with court officials. But the head of the Delhi Bar Association, Rakesh Tiku, said "The High Court has even written to Delhi Police for installation of CCTV cameras at all gates." Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said, "We will have to wait for the investigation to tell us exactly who is at fault over the CCTVs."
The Public Works Department (PWD), which is the agency to install the cameras, says they have not got any plan or instructions to do so. Hours after the blast, the Chief Justice of India went and reviewed security. Urgent promises and assurances are now being made that the cameras will be placed within a week.
Even more bizarrely, two hours after the blast, Home Minister P Chidambaram addressed Parliament and revealed that "Intelligence pertaining to threats emanating from certain groups was shared with Delhi Police in July, 2011."
Ironically, the Delhi police reports to the Ministry of Home headed by Mr Chidambaram himself.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was in Bangladesh on an official visit when the blast occurred, described the attack as "a cowardly act of a terrorist nature." He added, "We will deal with it...we will never succumb to the pressure of terrorism...this is a long war."
The Opposition BJP said the war against terror needs a combined front across party lines, but was severe in its indictment of the government. Sushma Swaraj who visited the High Court said the government's lethargy had been exposed by the fact that the High Court has been attacked twice - and there are still no security cameras. Arun Jaitley said, "Not generating intelligence is failure of intelligence."
There was no shortage of political stopovers at the court. Mr Chidambaram visited the site of the blast; so did Ms Swaraj, senior BJP leader LK Advani and the Congress' Rahul Gandhi, who had been heckled when he visited Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where some of those injured are being treated. While Parliament was adjourned for the day, by 2 pm, the High Court was back to work to signal that it remains strong despite today's attack.
The NIA and the National Security Guard (NSG) are leading investigations, but there have been no big breakthroughs in the last 24 hours since the blast. Will Wednesday's strike simply add to a long list of unsolved terror cases?
Eight patients have undergone reconstructive surgery, there are seven other trauma patients, five patients in the Intensive Care Unit, 12 in the surgical ward and 13 of the injured have been discharged. Most of the injuries were to the lower part of the body due to the impact of the blast.
Mr Patra was in the Intensive Care Unit of the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. 40-year-old Pramod Kumar from Loni in Ghaziabad died at 7 am today at the same hospital.
Doctors at RML have expressed concern at the number of VVIPs visiting the hospital. They said there was a fear of infection spreading with too many visitors.
Angry relatives of those admitted at RML after the High Court blast protested loudly when an endless stream of politicians came visiting yesterday - there was Rahul Gandhi, LK Advani, Sheila Dikshit and many others. They heckled Mr Gandhi and raised slogans against Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.
On Wednesday, a bomb placed in a briefcase exploded at a reception area of the Delhi High Court, where hundreds of people had queued to enter the court premises. The bomb was so powerful that it drove a huge crater into the ground. Chaos reigned as emergency services tried to get in to help in a narrow lane leading to the blast site along with construction work, hampering their work.
Soon, the police released two sketches of the terrorist who eyewitnesses say placed the bomb. But the details are extremely vague. In fact, according to the police, the man could be between 25 to 50 years old, light-skinned, bearded, and thin or stout.
Investigators are focusing on tracing an email purportedly sent by the Bangladesh-based terror group Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) yesterday owning responsibility for the blast. A cyber cafe owner in Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir was questioned and detained. Two other people have also been detained and police sources say a young man who frequented the cyber cafe might have sent the email. Efforts are on to track him down.
The explosion took place at 10.15 am - "rush hour" for the courthouse which usually starts hearings at 10.30 am. On Wednesday, Public Interest Litigations (PIL) are heard in the High Court, drawing larger than usual crowds. In the seconds after the blast, lawyers and litigants were seen running for help, their blood-soaked clothes clinging to them. "I heard a loud noise and smoke coming out following by cries of people," said Narendra Kumar Singh, a guard at a construction site outside the court.
Two kilos of explosives were used in the bomb, said UK Bansal, Special Secretary in the Home Ministry, adding that ammonium nitrate was used; so was high-grade PETN which is an extremely powerful explosive which can cause considerable damage even if used in small quantities.
Amid the grief, there is anger as the blame game began over the shocking story of key lapses. A minor explosion had taken place at almost the same spot outside the Delhi High Court in May, but it did not cause any injury. Intelligence agencies now say this was a dry run or rehearsal for yesterday. The May incident has also been handed over to the National Investigating Agency (NIA) to investigate now.
The incident in May had underscored the need for security cameras. Yet, security wasn't increased. No CCTV cameras have been installed outside the court's nine different gates.
The police said the proposal to install security cameras was stuck with court officials. But the head of the Delhi Bar Association, Rakesh Tiku, said "The High Court has even written to Delhi Police for installation of CCTV cameras at all gates." Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said, "We will have to wait for the investigation to tell us exactly who is at fault over the CCTVs."
The Public Works Department (PWD), which is the agency to install the cameras, says they have not got any plan or instructions to do so. Hours after the blast, the Chief Justice of India went and reviewed security. Urgent promises and assurances are now being made that the cameras will be placed within a week.
Even more bizarrely, two hours after the blast, Home Minister P Chidambaram addressed Parliament and revealed that "Intelligence pertaining to threats emanating from certain groups was shared with Delhi Police in July, 2011."
Ironically, the Delhi police reports to the Ministry of Home headed by Mr Chidambaram himself.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was in Bangladesh on an official visit when the blast occurred, described the attack as "a cowardly act of a terrorist nature." He added, "We will deal with it...we will never succumb to the pressure of terrorism...this is a long war."
The Opposition BJP said the war against terror needs a combined front across party lines, but was severe in its indictment of the government. Sushma Swaraj who visited the High Court said the government's lethargy had been exposed by the fact that the High Court has been attacked twice - and there are still no security cameras. Arun Jaitley said, "Not generating intelligence is failure of intelligence."
There was no shortage of political stopovers at the court. Mr Chidambaram visited the site of the blast; so did Ms Swaraj, senior BJP leader LK Advani and the Congress' Rahul Gandhi, who had been heckled when he visited Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where some of those injured are being treated. While Parliament was adjourned for the day, by 2 pm, the High Court was back to work to signal that it remains strong despite today's attack.
The NIA and the National Security Guard (NSG) are leading investigations, but there have been no big breakthroughs in the last 24 hours since the blast. Will Wednesday's strike simply add to a long list of unsolved terror cases?
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