 At least 135 people were killed and hundreds injured in seven bomb explosions on packed commuter trains and stations on Tuesday in Mumbai, India's financial hub, officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the evening rush hour attacks, the worst in the city for more than a decade. But suspicion was likely to center on Muslim militants fighting New Delhi's rule in disputed Kashmir, who have been blamed for several bomb attacks in India in the past.
| That's who it usually is. The commies don't like the spectacular bloodlettings the turbans go for... |
City Police Commissioner A.N. Roy told Reuters 135 people were killed while Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, the state's top elected official, said 300 people were injured in the blasts, which took place in the space of around 10 minutes. "We are not sure if it is RDX or not," Roy said, referring to the possible use of high-powered plastic explosives.
 Commuters fled suburban rail stations in panic after the explosions and mobile phone lines were jammed. Television pictures showed twisted rail carriages and people in torn and bloodstained clothes carrying the dead and wounded on stretchers as steady monsoon rain fell. A policeman was shown carrying two white, blood-stained bundles of what appeared to be body parts. Dazed survivors with wounds from injuries to heads, legs and hands waited at railway stations, with little sign of any emergency medical aid. Local media said the blasts appeared to have targeted first-class compartments. "The blasts happened when the trains were most crowded," D.K Shankaran, chief secretary of the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, told Reuters.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for calm and Sonia Gandhi, leader of the ruling Congress party, expressed her grief. "I urge the people to remain calm, not to believe rumors and carry on their activity normally," Singh said in a statement, calling the explosions a "shameful act". |