NEW DELHI, Sept 19, (AFP): Attackers on a motorbike opened fire with a sub-machine gun on a tourist bus outside the biggest mosque in New Delhi Sunday, injuring two Taiwanese in an assault claimed by Indian Islamists.
The incident came just a fortnight before the start of the Commonwealth Games, when 7,000 foreign athletes and officials are expected in the Indian capital, and is likely to raise anxiety in participating teams.
Authorities however called for calm and police cast doubt about the emailed claim of responsibility from the Indian Mujahideen group, which also threatened more violence to disrupt the Games.
“The claim sent to various media outlets is not reliable because the attack was carried out in a very unprofessional and crude manner, which no organised terrorist group would do,” a senior policeman told AFP, asking not to be named.
Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said the attack, which saw the passenger on the motorbike open fire, was the work of a “disgruntled gang of criminals”.
Witnesses and police said two men wearing raincoats and helmets drove up to the mosque in the heart of the historic old city, with the passenger then opening fire at the mosque and then at the minibus of Taiwanese tourists.
They made off at high speed into the surrounding narrow alleys, evading police.
Two male Taiwanese tourists on a nine-day tour of northern India and its historic cities, including the Taj Mahal town of Agra, were injured, one seriously, after he was shot in the stomach.
The other suffered a superficial head injury. Both men, aged 26 and 27, were treated in New Delhi’s Lok Narayan Jay Prakash hospital, medics said.
Indian officials have been repeatedly forced to defend security arrangements ahead of the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games, a multi-sport event that brings together athletes from countries and territories in the former British empire.
The Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attack in an email sent to the Press Trust of India and other media outlets.
It said the raid was a “tribute” to two men killed by New Delhi police after a series of bomb blasts in the capital in Sept 2008 that were claimed by the group.
It added: “We are warning you. If you have the guts, then organise the Commonwealth Games... We know that preparations are in full swing. Be prepared... We are also making preparations,” PTI quoted the email as saying.
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games organisers on Sunday insisted the event would be “safe and secure” after unknown gunmen fired on a tourist bus outside New Delhi’s main mosque.
The attack came just a fortnight before the start of the Oct 3-14 Games, when 7,000 foreign athletes and officials are expected in the Indian capital.
“The shooting incident this morning in Delhi will have no impact on the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi,” organising committee secretary-general Lalit Bhanot said in a statement.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs and Delhi police have made elaborate arrangements to provide the Commonwealth Games athletes and officials a safe and secure environment.
“The Commonwealth Games Associations of the nations and territories have been satisfied with the plans and preparations made by Delhi police and the International Security Liaison Group, formed by the ministry of Home Affairs.”