Pakistan-Based Islamic Terror Group Claims Delhi Blast

Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), a Pakistan-based Islamic terror organization that was behind the Mumbai siege in 2008, has claimed responsibility for the deadly explosion outside the Delhi High Court that killed 10 people, mostly litigants, on Wednesday.

India's premier investigative organization, the National Investigation Agency, said an e-mail purportedly sent by HuJi operatives claiming responsibility for the attack is being verified, according to Daily News & Analysis.

Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Islamic Struggle Movement) is a militant organization active in South Asia and is seen as an al-Qaida affiliate in the region.

The powerful blast outside the Delhi High Court, which also wounded as many as 65 people, happened days before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror strike on the United States.

The explosion took place at 10.15 a.m. near Gate No. 5 of the Delhi High Court. The rush-hour blast was more lethal as Gate No. 5 witnesses larger crowds on Wednesdays, when public interest litigations are taken up in the court. The gate also lies closest to the parking area. Most of the dead and injured were believed to be litigants. As many as 200 people were in a queue to get passes to enter the court when the blast took place.

Witnesses said the windows in judges' chambers were rattled in the blast, which could be heard as far as three kilometers from the High Court. It was a powerful blast ... there is a lot of blood there, an eyewitness told NDTV.

The blast occurred outside the High Court in the public area where unchecked people come ... Apparently the bomb was in a briefcase but it is yet to be fully confirmed, a senior police official told media.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is visiting Dhaka, Bangladesh, said, I just heard the sad news from Delhi about the bomb blast. I am told that 10 people have been killed. This is cowardly act of terrorist nature. We will deal with it. We will never succumb to the pressure of terrorism.

India's Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, said the modus operandi of the terror attack has not been identified and that the National Investigation Agency will be entrusted with the probe.

Meanwhile Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, was put on high alert following the Delhi blast. We are on high alert and taking all precautionary measures to prevent any terror attack ... Security has been intensified at vital installations and around Mumbai courts, the Deccan Herald quoted a city police official as saying.