NEW DELHI: Indian bomb disposal experts cordoned off a busy flower market in the capital New Delhi Friday after finding an improvised explosive device left in an abandoned bag, police said.

“The site is under a police cordon and we have recovered an IED (Improvised Explosive Device),” a police officer told AFP.

“Everything else including who left the bag there and the kind of explosive inside the bag is a matter of investigation.” Police commissioner Rakesh Asthana told the NDTV news channel the bag was left behind by a customer who visited a shop to buy flowers at the Ghazipur wholesale flower market.

Media reports said police carried out a controlled explosion. The market in eastern Delhi gets thousands of small farmers, horticulturists and shopkeepers early in the morning.

India is in a heightened state of security ahead of Republic Day celebrations on January 26, when a military parade is due to take place in the heart of the capital.