9 dead, 45 injured in Delhi High Court blast

NEW DELHI: At least ten people have been killed in an explosion outside the Delhi High Court on Wednesday morning, Geo News reported.

The explosion took place outside Gate No. 5 of the Delhi High Court at 10:17 AM injuring 45 others. The injured have been rushed to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and the Safdarjung Hospital with some of them reportedly in a critical condition.

Earlier, Union Home Secretary RK Singh confirmed that nine people died in the explosion.

UK Bansal, Secretary (Internal Security) in the Ministry of Home Affairs, said that the explosive device was kept in a briefcase. He said that the blast was of was well planned and of high intensity.

National Security Guard (NSG) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) teams have also reached the blast site.

NSG Director General Rajen Medhekar said that ammonium nitrate has been used in the blast.

“Whatever we could gather from the blast investigations is that it is an IED (improvised explosive device) with ammonium nitrate. We are working with the Delhi Police to get details,” said Medhekar.

The Delhi Police said that Gate No. 5 is one of the busiest areas of the Delhi High Court and have cordoned off the area. Gate no. 5 of the Delhi High Court is where the passes are made for the litigants and the explosion happened outside the reception.

Police officials said that about 100 to 200 people were waiting in queue to get passes for entry into the court complex.

Forensic experts have reached the site and are examining forensic evidence to find out the nature of the blast. Fire tenders and ambulances have also reached the blast site.

Court business is usually heavy on Wednesday which is listed as a Public Interest Litation(PIL) day when the visitors come to the court in large numbers.

6 NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Focus Information Agency

Kabul: A total of six NATO soldiers were killed in attacks in Afghanistan on Wednesday, four of them in a bomb explosion in the insurgent-hit south of the country, the alliance said, AFP reports.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) gave no further details of the four soldiers’ deaths in the blast, saying it was a matter of policy not to identify the nationalities of casualties.

The coalition had earlier announced that a soldier was killed in another bomb attack, as military deaths hit new record highs since the war began in 2001.
The sixth soldier died fighting rebels in eastern Afghanistan, the force said.