Police awaiting report on Delhi flower market bomb, classified as "terror attack"

Ghazipur: Delhi Police are awaiting the results from the analysis of the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) found at Ghaziabad flower market in Delhi on Friday, with officials stating that the case is currently being probed as a suspected terrorist attack.

The development came after National Security Guard officers, based on preliminary findings, said on Friday that the bomb found in an unattended bag was stuffed with RDX, ammonium nitrate and shrapnel.

"If the NSG report on Monday confirms RDX, then it will point towards the role of people or groups from abroad. RDX is not available in the market. In past terror cases, police have found that the chemical is usually smuggled from across the border," an anonymous police officer was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

The last time RDX was used in Delhi by a terror group was in 2005 during the Delhi serial blasts.

Delhi Police are now requesting CCTV footage from shopkeepers in the flower market and are also examining footage from the two main CCTV cameras which are placed at the entry and exit of the marketplace. The marketplace association has also been cooperating with security forces to discuss further precautions and ways to prevent such attacks from happening.

The bomb, discovered on Friday morning, was left in a black bag that was placed in the flower market after which an alarm was raised by a concerned citizen. Police and bomb disposal squads arrived promptly and a controlled detonation was conducted in the area, which was cordoned off for safety. The market remains shut as the investigation continues.

Police said they are probing if the people behind the Ghazipur IED case has links with the September arrests of six suspected terror operatives. On September 14, 2021, police conducted raids in Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and arrested the six suspects, namely, Mohammed Sheikh, Osama, Mohd Abu Bakar, Zeeshan, Javed and Moolchand.

The connection is suspected as RDX bombs were recovered from the suspects and they were also trained to carry out attacks on markets in crowded parts of Delhi, investigating officers said. In addition to this, the Ludhiana bomb blast in December as well as recovered explosives in Srinagar and Punjab yesterday point to a worrying uptick in such incidents, which are worthy of investigation, another unnamed official told Hindustani Times.