Fears of an attack reignited in New Delhi: a car exploded near a metro station a few hundred meters from the Red Fort, a symbolic landmark in the city and a destination for thousands of tourists every day.
At least 13 people were killed and 24 others injured on the ground as the city and the rest of India stood by, fearing a repeat of attacks like those that rocked the country in the early 2000s.
The toll in what could be a more serious massacre is still preliminary and Indian authorities have not ruled out any clues, including the possibility of terrorism, given the dynamics of the situation.
The loud explosion, police reported, occurred shortly before 7pm local time (it was 2.30pm in Italy), when the vehicle, a Hyundai i20 carrying three people, stopped – before exploding – at a traffic light near the metro station closest to the ancient fort, with its red sandstone walls, a symbol of India’s independence and national sovereignty where every year, on August 15, the Prime Minister of India raises the national flag and gives a speech to the nation.
After the explosion, flames involved other cars, turning the scene into “hell”, witnesses at the scene reported, describing the explosion as “the loudest sound I have ever heard in my life”. Investigators have not ruled out “any hypothesis” about the cause, said India’s Home Minister, Amit Shah, and police sources quoted by the Ians news agency indicated that the terrorist trail was plausible.
Meanwhile, authorities have increased vigilance to the maximum in places considered critical in the region, but also in other symbolic locations in the country, such as the Taj Mahal, which is more than 200 kilometers from the capital.
“My condolences to those who lost their loved ones in the Delhi blast. May the injured recover quickly,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote in X, announcing that the case was being looked into by his government.
The blast occurred in front of dozens of people, at what is thought to be the peak of explosions in India’s densely populated capital. The busy shopping mall in the Chandani Chowk area is also nearby. “We saw pieces of bodies strewn across the street. Nobody understood what happened, damn it,” was one of the first testimonies reported by Indian media. There are videos on social media showing vehicles being hit, windows broken and chaos on the streets.
As Shah said, investigators aim to probe in depth what happened. One aspect analyzed was that, hours before the explosion, police had found around three tons of explosives in two buildings in Faridabad, a city on the outskirts of Delhi located in the state of Haryana, the same as those listed on the number plate of the Hyundai i20 that exploded near the Red Fort. And now they have arrested two people, the former owners of the vehicle that exploded.
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