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Two blasts rock M-Block market

NEW DELHI: It was a normal day at the M-Block market in Greater Kailash-1 here on a busy Saturday evening when shoppers were jolted with the impact of two low intensity bombs that ripped across the market within a gap of about 10 minutes.

Soon panic took over, with people rushing out of shops and running in all directions.

The first blast went off in a dustbin located in front of shop no. M-9 at 6-30 p.m. closely followed by another one which went off on a bicycle parked in front of shop no.M-29. Though no serious injuries were reported, one woman was rushed to Safdarjung Hospital with burns in the arms. The impact of the blasts were borne by the cars parked in the market. Their windscreens and glass windows were shattered, leaving the ground covered with shards of glass.

Eyewitness Sudhir Thakur said: “I was attending to customers in our jewellery shop when I heard a loud sound followed by dense smoke and the shattering of glass all around. As soon as the first blast occurred I immediately downed the shutter from inside and ducked along with the customers. The impact was so huge that tube-lights inside the shops were also shattered. Some pieces of glass hit me in the neck.”

Pressing the panic button soon after the first blast, the market traders’ association president Rajinder Sharda took control of the public announcement system in the police booth and alerted shopkeepers to shut their shops. He asked shoppers in the area to assemble in the park located in the centre of the market.

A team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Delhi) H.G.S Dhaliwal also reached the spot to conduct investigations and gather evidence after cordoning off the blast site. Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra visited the market.

Preliminary tests by an expert pointed to the use of inorganic nitrate in the bombs.

Goldie Mehta, a resident of Faridabad, who had come to the market, said: “When I heard the first blast I was on the other side of the market and took refuge in a shop nearby. After I returned to my parked car I saw the glass windows smashed and the windscreen had been damaged.”

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