By Shivam Patel and Shilpa Jamkhandikar
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -At least eight people were killed on Monday in a car explosion near the historic Red Fort in a densely populated area of the Indian capital Delhi, a police spokesperson said, a rare blast in the heavily guarded city of more than 30 million people.
The exact cause of the blast is being investigated, said the police spokesperson, Sanjay Tyagi. However, India’s financial capital of Mumbai as well as its most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, which borders Delhi, went on high security alert after the blast, local media reported.
At least 20 people were injured in the explosion, TV channels reported, as ambulances raced to the scene.
‘BLAST IN SLOW-MOVING VEHICLE’
Mangled bodies and the wreckage of several cars could be seen on a congested street near a metro station in the old quarter of Delhi, as police poured into the area to secure it and push back gathering crowds.
Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golcha said the blast had occurred minutes before 7 p.m. (1330 GMT).
“A slow-moving vehicle stopped at a red light. An explosion happened in that vehicle, and due to the explosion, nearby vehicles were also damaged,” he told reporters.
Federal and state investigative agencies are at the site and federal Home Minister Amit Shah has been briefed about the incident, Golcha added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to those who had lost loved ones.
“May the injured recover at the earliest. Those affected are being assisted by authorities,” Modi posted on X, adding that he had reviewed the situation with Shah and other officials.
At least six vehicles and three auto-rickshaws caught fire, Delhi’s deputy fire chief said later, adding that the flames had been doused by firefighting teams.
‘INTENSE EXPLOSION’
“I was at the metro station, going down the stairs, when I heard an explosion. I turned around and saw a fire. People started running helter-skelter,” Suman Mishra, whose husband owns a hotel in a nearby area, told Reuters.
Wali Ur Rehman said he was sitting at his shop when he heard a loud explosion. “I fell from the impact of the explosion, it was that intense,” he told news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake.
About 30 to 40 ambulances were near the site of the blast and the entire area was cordoned off after the fire was put out, a Reuters witness said, adding that he could see remains of mangled cars and crowds milling around.
The Red Fort, known locally as Lal Qila, is a sprawling, 17th-century Mughal-era edifice melding Persian and Indian architectural styles, and is visited by tourists throughout the year.
The prime minister addresses the nation from the fort’s ramparts every year on August 15, India’s independence day.
Delhi was the target of blasts during the 1980s and 1990s, with public places such as bus stations and crowded market areas hit in attacks blamed on Islamist militants or on separatists from the northern Sikh state of Punjab.
About a dozen people were killed in a briefcase explosion outside the Delhi High Court in 2011 – the last such major incident in the city.
(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Shivam Patel, Akanksha Singh and Adnan Abidi; Writing by YP RajeshEditing by Toby Chopra, Mark Heinrich and Gareth Jones)
