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Two blasts near Army HQ in Delhi

There were two explosions in the heart of the city, within seven minutes, on Wednesday. A youth has been detained by the police following the blasts.

The first blast occurred at 15:07 hours at the Army headquarters canteen parking lot. The bomb was placed near a bicycle. The second blast was in a dustbin, 50 metres from South Block, the prime minister's office.

Joint Commissioner of Police, New Delhi range, Suresh Roy, told rediff.com, "The two bombs were crude and were identical. The same batteries seem to have been used. R P Sood, a defence ministry employee, who was injured in one of the blasts, has been admitted to hospital for treatment."

The Delhi Police has registered two cases and launched investigations. The Army, the Special Branch of the Delhi Police and other intelligence agencies have joined the investigations.

Roy said even though a number of prank calls have been received in recent weeks, the police were not taking chances and investigated each call seriously.

He said the nature of the blast would be known only after forensic experts analyse the remains at the blast sites.

On whether there was a security breach at the site of first blast, Roy said, "That is for the army authoritiesto reply, but the suspect managed to give a slip due to lax security arrangements at the gate."

The army has cordoned off the canteen and senior officers are examining the area.

This is the third incident of planting of bombs in the national capital in less than a month. On April 10, some anti-national elements planted an IED in the parking lot of the high-security North Block, which houses the home and finance ministries.

This was followed by recovery of a crude bomb in a dustbin at a park in Rajiv Chowk in the heart of the capital on May 2.

On Tuesday, there had been two hoax calls regarding planting of bombs at two cinema halls in Connaught Place.

(With inputs from PTI)

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