Firing at Jama Masjid injures two tourists

NEW DELHI - Unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire at one of the main gates of the Jama Masjid here Sunday morning, leaving two foreign tourists injured, a shrine official said.

The firing, apparently from an automatic weapon, lasted about a minute and sparked panic in the mammoth 16th-century red sandstone mosque in the city’s old quarters, official Umar Khan told IANS.

“All of us heard the gunshots distinctly,” Khan said. He said one of the tourists was wounded in the leg.

The incident took place around 11 a.m. The gunmen escaped through the narrow lanes ringing the Jama Masjid, one of India’s largest mosques and located opposite the Red Fort monument.

The Jama Masjid receives a large number of Indian and foreign tourists daily, the number going up on Sundays.