Diwali celebrations defy Delhi bombers
November 1, 2005Staff and agencies
Tuesday November 1, 2005
Women light earthen lamps, in Agartala, India, for Diwali, the festival of lights.
Photograph: Ramakanta Dey/AP
The sound of firecrackers greeted the dawn in Delhi today as the city began the Hindu festival of Diwali in the wake of bomb attacks at the weekend that killed 59 people.
Defiant shopkeepers decorated their stalls with glowing lights and shiny tinsel to mark the festival of lights - representing the triumph of good over evil - but security was tight as investigators continued their hunt for the bombers.
Police sifted through millions of mobile telephone call records, trying to uncover who had carried out the attacks, and checkpoints were set up around the city.
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Anguished and weary relatives continued to look for loved ones among rows of bodies charred in the deadliest terrorist attack on the Indian capital.
The atmosphere was sombre. Sonia Gandhi, the head of India’s ruling alliance, and the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, both cancelled celebrations.
Three blasts, all within an hour, ripped through a bus and two crowded markets on Saturday in an attack claimed by a group called Islami Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Group).
Analysts said it had ties with or was a front for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-i-Taiba, an Islamic group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. India blamed Lashkar for an attack on the country’s parliament in December 2001 which left 15 dead, including five attackers.
Happy Diwali India, I’m sorry for your losses.
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