Gunmen attack tourist bus in New Delhi

India’s security arrangements for next month’s Commonwealth Games came under renewed scrutiny on Sunday, after gunmen fired on a tourist bus outside a New Delhi mosque, wounding two Taiwanese visitors.

The pair of motor-bike riding gunmen shot at a group of Taiwanese visitors outside the vast Jama Masjid, Delhi’s most important Islamic site, and a popular tourist attraction in the city’s congested old quarter.

Police, hunting for the culprits, said they did not yet know the motive, and could not comment on whether the assault was linked to the many terror attacks that have rocked New Delhi and other Indian cities in recent years.

New Delhi’s chief minister, Sheila Dixit, urged calm, even as the city was put on high alert. “I appeal to everybody, please do not panic,” Ms Dixit said. “An incident like this is something worrying but nothing to panic about.”

But with the start of the Commonwealth Games just two weeks away, the shooting has reignited concern over whether India – still haunted by the devastating Mumbai terror attack of two years ago- is ready to provide adequate security for visiting athletes and spectators.

“Even if it just a totally random, one-off incident, you would expect that if people are just turning up in Delhi, their antennae are going to be fluttering around this issue,” said one Commonwealth diplomat.

The BBC said on Sunday it had received an e-mail from an Islamist group, the Indian Mujahideen, in which it warned of attacks during the games, which will further fuel security concerns.

India faces a high risk of terror attacks from groups like the Pakistan-based Lashkar e-Taiba, the force behind attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, during which 131 people were killed, and hundreds more injured, at two five-star hotels and the city’s main railway station.

The US State Department said in an advisory this month it had no intelligence of any specific threat to the Commonwealth games, but has warned of the high, continuing threat of terrorism across the country.

Security experts fear the sports tournament– which will draw athletes and spectators from 55 Commonwealth countries - could be a tempting target for radical groups.

MS Gill, the sports minister, said last week that security would be “not just 100 per cent but 120 per cent foolproof,” with at least 100,000 security personal deployed to safeguard the event. New Delhi has already stepped up its police presence across New Delhi, with advance teams for the games already arriving.

However, Sunday’s shooting will draw renewed attention to the security at sites that are not games venues, but could draw foreign visitors during the competition. “Lots of security measures have already been taken,” said Ms Dixit. “Whereever there is an inadequacy about it, that hole has to be plugged.”

The shooting is the latest jolt to Delhi’s efforts to stage the games, which have also been plagued by long delays in completing venues, allegations of corruption and an epidemic of mosquito-born dengue fever, which is expected to peak next month.