Tourists shot near Delhi mosque, BBC

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Tourists shot near Delhi mosque, BBC

Tourists were in a bus parked near the mosque

Two foreign tourists have been injured after gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a bus in the Indian capital, Delhi, police say.

The incident took place near the Jama Masjid mosque, a popular tourist site.

Police said the injured tourists were Taiwanese.

There have been concerns over security in the city, which is due to host the Commonwealth Games next month, but organisers said the shooting would have no impact on the event.

Terrorist attacks

Police, who have launched a search for the gunmen, said the attack happened near gate number three of the historic mosque.

A doctor from the nearby Lok Nayak Jay Prakash Hospital told the Agence France-Presse news agency that both the injured were men, and that one had been shot in the stomach.

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An incident like this is worrying but nothing to panic about”

Sheila Dikshit

Chief minister of Delhi

Witnesses said the attackers fired with automatic weapons.

The mosque's chief imam told AFP that one of the two attackers fired randomly from outside one of the main gates of the shrine.

"The two terrorists came on a motorcycle and the man riding pillion first fired randomly at the mosque and then fired in the air and at the people, and then he fired on the bus in which the tourists had come," he said.

"After emptying his gun, the terrorist replaced the magazine and began firing again," the imam said.

"The police today proved to be a failure. How can the police protect foreigners when they arrive?" he added.

But the secretary-general of the Commonwealth Games organising committee, Lalit Bhanot, said the shooting would have "no impact" on the event.

He said: "The ministry of home affairs and Delhi police have made elaborate arrangements to provide the Commonwealth Games athletes and officials a safe and secure environment."

Chief minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, told local television: "An incident like this is worrying but nothing to panic about."

Security in Delhi has been tightened ahead of the the Games, which run from 3-14 October.

In a statement emailed to BBC Hindi, the Indian Islamist group, the Indian Mujahideen, threatened to target the Games in response to the recent killing of Muslims in Indian-administered Kashmir.

"On the one hand, Muslim blood is flowing like water while on the other hand you are preparing for the festival of Games," it read.

The statement made no reference to Sunday's attack, but AFP quoted another it had received from the same group saying it had carried out the shootings. It repeated the threat to the Games.

The country has suffered a number of serious militant attacks in the past few years.

In November 2008, at least 170 people were killed in co-ordinated attacks in Mumbai.

More recently, 17 people were killed in a blast at a bakery full of tourists and students in Pune in February.

Earlier on Sunday, Australia said it would send a team to the Games despite a warning from a private firm of consultants over the threats posed by failings in the city's public transport network.

"Delhi is a densely populated city and the opportunity for a terrorist strike in the city's choking traffic and crowds is obvious," consultant Roger Henning told Australian News Limited newspapers.