Two Taiwanese injured in Jama Masjid shooting, man detained (Fourth Lead)

NEW DELHI - Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened random fire at one of the entrances to the Jama Masjid here Sunday, leaving two Taiwanese tourists wounded and sparking panic, police said. A man has been detained by the police in connection with the shooting.

The attackers fired at least 10 rounds at a group of tourists alighting from a luxury bus outside the mammoth 16th-century red sandstone mosque in the old quarters of the city.

The suspect hails from Vasant Kunj area of south Delhi. According to police, he was detained on suspicion by the Special Cell of the Crime Branch as the motorcycle, a black coloured Hero Honda Passion, used in the crime belonged to him.

Police revealed that the motorcycle, bearing registration number DL 4S AJ 0496, was registered in his name.

The man riding pillion on the bike opened fire, police said. The men escaped through the narrow lanes ringing the Jama Masjid, one of India’s largest mosques.

Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told IANS that the attack took place at 11.30 a.m. outside gate number 3. He said the identity of the attackers was not known.

The injured tourists are aged 38 and 40, a police official said.

Meanwhile, the prime witness in the case, Salim, a rickshaw puller, is being questioned by the police at the Jama Masjid police station.

Salim told reporters: “I was standing at a distance when I saw these two fair-skinned and tall men on a bike. They reached the bus and started shooting indiscriminately as the tourists were getting on the bus.”

According to Bhagat, security has been beefed up in the capital and there is heavy barricading around Jama Masjid.

The injured tourists are recuperating at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) hospital in the city centre.

The attack came despite a high level of security here in the

runup to the Commonwealth Games that will draw athletes and officials from 71 countries and territories.

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