THERE was barely time for the late summer monsoon to wash away the blood. Less than five hours after a briefcase packed with ammonium nitrate exploded on September 7th at the main entrance to Delhi's high court, killing 11 and injuring at least 60, the lawyers and judges were back at work inside. The victims were mostly witnesses queuing to enter the court at the most crowded time of the morning. An e-mail sent to television stations in Delhi soon after the explosion was traced to Kashmir and purported to come from Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, an extremist group with links to Pakistan and al-Qaeda. It claimed to be behind the attack and demanded the repeal of a death sentence imposed on Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri. He was convicted (though supporters claim he was abused and framed) of being part of an assault on the Indian parliament by Laskhar-e-Taiba, another Pakistani terror outfit, in 2001. The latest attackers, who may also have planted a small bomb outside the same court in May, threatened to strike more Indian courts in future. By South Asian standards the toll from the Delhi bombing was relatively low. …. India's flourishing capital has been spared a big terrorist incident for the past three years. (Excerpt) Read more at economist.com …
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