Police release sketches of two persons suspected to have placed the briefcase containing the bomb at the High Court

A powerful bomb placed in a briefcase exploded outside the Delhi High Court this morning killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 60, many of them suffering serious burns. It's the second bomb attack in the national capital in four months after the explosion that happened only a few yards away on 25th May.

Most of the victims were people who had gathered outside gates number 4 and 5, waiting to get passes to enter the court premises, when the bomb went off at about 10.15am. Leaders, cutting across party lines, have condemned the incident, describing it as tragic and unfortunate.

The High Court, along with several benches of the Supreme Court, suspended proceedings for some hours, but resumed its functioning later in the day so as to send a strong message that it "will not be cowed down by such terror acts". If a litigant or lawyer failed to appear in any of the cases that came up today, the courts passed over these matters without giving any orders.

Denouncing the blast as a "cowardly act of terrorist nature", prime minister Manmohan Singh asked all political parties to unite and crush the scourge. Dr Singh who is in Dhaka on a two-day visit to Bangladesh, said, "I just heard the sad news from Delhi about the bomb blast. I am told that 10 people have been killed. This is a cowardly act of terrorist nature. We will deal with it. We will never succumb to the pressure of terrorism."

In a statement in the Lok Sabha on the blast, home minister P Chidambaram regretted that the "tragic incident" had taken place despite Delhi police being on a high alert and capacity being built up to strengthen the force in the past few years.

Informing members that the case will be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Mr Chidambaram said the government would not be intimidated by terrorist groups and that it was "determined to track down the perpetrators of this horrific crime and bring them to justice."

An email received by a TV channel this afternoon stated that the blast was carried out by Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI), said to be an affiliate of Al Qaeda, to demand the revocation of the death sentence of Afzal Guru, who has been condemned for the attack on the Indian Parliament. It threatened to carry out such attacks at the Supreme Court if the demand was not met.

Meanwhile, the Delhi police this evening released sketches of two persons suspected to have planted the bomb outside the Delhi High Court.

The sketches of the two-one believed to be in his 50s and the other in his mid-20s-were prepared following descriptions provided by eyewitnesses who claimed they saw someone with a briefcase standing in the queue.