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Bomb explodes in New Delh: 15 injured

NEW DELHI: A bomb destroyed a building in the heart of India's capital of New Delhi on Saturday, injuring at least 15 people, police said.

The explosion brought down the four-storey guest house which had a shoe shop on the ground floor, trapping an unknown number of people inside, they said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bomb, which exploded inside the shop in the Pahargang neighbourhood near Connaught Place, the capital's central square, and the New Delhi train station.

Local residents and rescuers used their hands to try to dig through the rubble to reach any victims. Later a crane arrived to lift the debris.

Witnesses saw bleeding victims pulled from the building and police said 15 people were taken to hospital.

A police officer outside the shop told a Reuters Television correspondent that 15 or 16 people were believed to have been inside when the explosion occurred.

It was the latest in a series of explosions which have injured several dozen people in central Delhi over the past year. No one has been convicted of planting the bombs but police have arrested a number of Kashmiri and Sikh separatists.-Reuter