NEW DELHI - A powerful bomb ripped through a packed reception area at the entrance to New Delhi's High Court on Wednesday, killing nine people and injuring 62, many of them petitioners waiting for their cases.
Police said the device had apparently been placed in a suitcase near the reception where more than 100 people were queueing for their entry passes to the court complex, located in the centre of the Indian capital.
The court buildings were evacuated as police blocked off the area and emergency services rushed the injured, some of them in a critical condition, to hospital.
"Nine people have been confirmed dead. The number of injured is now 62," Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told AFP.
The explosion occurred around 10:15 am (0445 GMT). There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Condemning the attack Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India would not be bowed by terrorism.
"This is a cowardly act of a terrorist nature," Singh, who is currently on a visit to Bangladesh, told television reporters in Dhaka.
"This is a long war in which all political parties, all the the people of India, have to stand united so that this scourge of terrorism is crushed." Home Minister P. Chidamabaram, in a statement to parliament, called on people to remain "resolute and united" in the face of efforts to destabilise the country.
One police source said initial investigations suggested the bomb had contained potassium nitrate.
"More than 100 people were in a queue at the reception," Rahul Gupta, a petitioner whose case was listed for a hearing Wednesday, told AFP.
"Then there was a huge explosion. I saw a lot of people lying around in a pool of blood."
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