Explosions in Delhi

October 29, 2005 12:02 PM

Bomb blasts in New Delhi. The three explosions seemed to target shoppers preparing for the festival of Diwali (previous post on Diwali here).
posted by homunculus (34 comments total)

Thanks, CNN, BBC, CBC, MSNBC, Google News and all the other news sites were broken.
posted by furtive at 12:41 PM on October 29, 2005

In a minor bit of good news out of India, one bus explosion was foiled, when the bus driver threw a bomb off the bus just before it went off. (Couldn't get the Hindustani Times link to work.)

Wonder who's behind these acts of -- OK, I'm going to use the cliche here -- senseless violence. Muslims? Sikhs? Atheists (just kidding.)? Terrible, terrible killings and maimings.
posted by kozad at 12:46 PM on October 29, 2005

furtive: Check your hosts file. You probably blocked them and just forgot.
posted by loquacious at 1:01 PM on October 29, 2005

There was much talk about the terrible earthquake being an opportunity to end the violence in Kashmir. Plently of vested interests would hate to see that happen, hence these attacks to "keep things hot." Too cynical?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 1:08 PM on October 29, 2005

See, this why we need to invade Syria.
posted by xmutex at 1:28 PM on October 29, 2005

PST, even without Kashmir, India has a tremendous problem with what is called there "communal violence".
posted by dhartung at 1:50 PM on October 29, 2005

xmutex:

Yes. The flypaper clearly needs to be made stickier.

and then we'll have a border with Israel, hooray
posted by trigonometry at 2:14 PM on October 29, 2005

dhartung : "India has a tremendous problem with what is called there 'communal violence'"

Incorrect. India has a tremendous problem with what's called 'machiavellian politicians'.
posted by Gyan at 2:35 PM on October 29, 2005

Can't 1 billion people just get along?
posted by Busithoth at 2:43 PM on October 29, 2005

The Paharganj blast may also - perhaps - have been targeting tourists, in that it's at the centre of the backpacker hotel area. Or, at least, targeting cheap-ass tourists ...
posted by carter at 2:45 PM on October 29, 2005

Can someone explain to me why when terrorist-like violence erupts in 1st world nations, this place becomes somber and worried for the victims (Madrid/London), but when violence erupts in the largest democracy in the world and the 4th largest economy in the world, the thread is filled with innappropriate and stupid jokes?
posted by SeizeTheDay at 2:47 PM on October 29, 2005

racism, basically. Value if life being unequal, more specifically.
posted by cell divide at 2:54 PM on October 29, 2005

Yes, yes, Seize. You're superior.
posted by Malor at 2:56 PM on October 29, 2005

Inappropriate and stupid jokes?

You do realize which web site you're reading, don't you?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:56 PM on October 29, 2005

seize, when are you going to realize that the appeal of America in the eyes of the rest of the world lies largely with our self-obsession and forced 'innocence'. I think you overplay the somber and worried aspect a bit.
posted by Busithoth at 3:05 PM on October 29, 2005

Well, I suspect that lot of us (I, for one) have friends or family living in Delhi, and these blasts targeted extremely well-travelled and popular areas. So I hope that everyone involved has established contact with their loved ones and that they are alright.

Any Delhiites on Metafilter right now? Was anyone near the blasts? My money is, indeed, on terrorists attempting to upset even a glimmer of Indo-Pak sanity, and the connection with Divali and holiday shopping was only secondary to that purpose.
posted by goodglovin77 at 3:47 PM on October 29, 2005

Thanks, CNN, BBC, CBC, MSNBC, Google News and all the other news sites were broken.

Wow, outsourcing really sucks, huh?
posted by Kickstart70 at 4:04 PM on October 29, 2005

Target shoppers?
posted by TwelveTwo at 4:04 PM on October 29, 2005

Global Voices [ahem] has excellent coverage.
posted by panoptican at 4:31 PM on October 29, 2005

Wow. I hope the smug bastards among those above are feeling real good about themselves right now. Here's a pat on the back. Who cares if brownie dies, after all. Unless they were skilled enough to do a job a westerner would. Then we can make outsourcing jokes.
posted by Firas at 4:50 PM on October 29, 2005 [1 favorite]

Firas, quite frankly, you don't know what you're talking about.

My response was sarcasm to specifically counter to the person claiming that this was a superfluous post when the sites in question were already talking about this. Metafilter was the first place I heard about this.

Now, on to your post...nice fucking strawman argument that is. We post in ways you don't appreciate in a thread about a bombing that killed brown people, therefore we are racist against brown people. Or maybe we were disgusted that Furtive was so quick to attempt to close discussion on this horrible tragedy? Nah, that couldn't be it, because then your anti-positive worldview would be altered.

For what it's worth, I've been emailing around to find out if "brown people" I know and care about from India have friends or relatives in Delhi, in case I can provide emotional support.

In short, you have no freaking clue.
posted by Kickstart70 at 4:57 PM on October 29, 2005

kickstart70: I did wonder whether I was misreading your comment, apparently I did. Sorry! Anyway. My point wasn't to accuse people of racism, just callousness. One may not find it horrid that people halfway across the world died, but there's no reason to be retarded in one's response.
posted by Firas at 5:07 PM on October 29, 2005 [1 favorite]

Funny, no one called out newsfilter on the 9/11 thread.
posted by ori at 5:56 PM on October 29, 2005

I would have just so people couldn't say that no one did. Always thinking forward, I am.
posted by TwelveTwo at 6:02 PM on October 29, 2005

nice fucking strawman argument that is.

unambiguous, too.
posted by quonsar at 7:17 PM on October 29, 2005

terrorist bombs, my arse!

surely, it was just some kids playing with diwali firecrackers. the media are probably over-reacting.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:02 PM on October 29, 2005

Has anyone validly claimed responsibility for this yet?
I got a glimpse of CNN earlier this evening and, as usual, they were wildly speculating that AQ (of course) had something to do with this. I'm skeptical, as likely some of your are.
Who are the political players in India who would be inclined to do something like this anyhow?
posted by Jon-o at 8:54 PM on October 29, 2005

The three blasts took place within a span of 18 minutes - the first was at Paharganj market at 5.38 pm, the next at Govindpuri at 5.52 pm and the third at Sarojini Nagar at 5.56 pm. Another bomb in Khari Bauli (at Chandni Chowk) was defused at 3.30 pm by the police. The bombs were improvised explosive devices (IEDs) which have been used with deadly effect by militants in J&K.

Doesn't sound like kids with fireworks.
posted by homunculus at 8:55 PM on October 29, 2005

.
posted by echolalia67 at 11:41 PM on October 29, 2005

One of the spots, Sarojini Nagar, is fairly close to my house and at this time of year, would have been crowded as hell. Thankfully, nobody from my family was around. But damn, we lost a lot of people. :(

surely, it was just some kids playing with diwali firecrackers

If that wasn't some kind of humour I can't seem to figure out, up yours!
posted by madman at 1:25 PM on October 30, 2005

madman: glad to hear that your family is alright. Bombing a crowded marketplace, especially this close to a major religious holiday is depraved.
posted by echolalia67 at 6:14 PM on October 30, 2005

echolalia67, murdering innocent civilians, in whichever country, for whichever cause, is depraved and unpardonable, no matter what political or religious ideology we subscribe to.
posted by madman at 10:08 AM on October 31, 2005

In pictures: Diwali celebrations
posted by homunculus at 3:10 PM on November 2, 2005

Delhi's sombre Diwali after bombs
posted by homunculus at 3:18 PM on November 2, 2005