Mumbai News : Explosions shake India's financial hub

Diposkan oleh Agus Ariefandy Syuhada on Wednesday, July 13, 2011




Breaking News - Three near-simultaneous explosions have shaken India's commercial capital Mumbai (Bombay), police say.

Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram said 10 people had been killed and 54 wounded in the rush-hour blasts.

One explosion was reported in the Zaveri Bazaar, another in the Opera House business district and a third in Dadar district.

Indian media have quoted the home ministry as saying the explosions were a terrorist attack.

Police sources were reported as saying the explosions were caused by home-made bombs.

Mumbai was the scene of a 10-man raid and co-ordinated attacks in November 2008 in which nearly 170 people were killed.

The BBC's Soutik Biswas, in Delhi, says there is no evidence so far to suggest that
Mumbai is under attack in the same way.

High alert

The latest explosions hit the city around 1900 local time (1330 GMT) as workers were making their way home.

While the Home Secretary said two people had been confirmed killed, police said eight people had died.

The city has been put on a state of high alert. Delhi, the capital, Calcutta and several other cities have also been put on alert.

The authorities have not yet said who they believe might be behind the explosions and no group has said it carried them out.

The explosion in Zaveri Bazaar, in the south of Mumbai, was reported in a jewellery shop, says the BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Mumbai.

The third explosion hit the Opera House district, also in the city's south, at a time when it would have been crowded with workers and commuters.

The blast in Dadar district, in the city centre, went off in a taxi next to a bus stop.
One eyewitness from the scene there told our correspondent he saw the bus stop and a car were torn apart by an explosion.

According to some reports, the blasts came on the birthday of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 attacks.

Those attacks, which targeted two high-end hotels, a Jewish centre and other sites frequented by foreigners, were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.

Pakistan condemned the latest explosions, in a statement issued by the foreign ministry.

Mumbai has been targeted many times in recent years.

As well as the 2008 attacks, co-ordinated blasts on seven of the city's trains on 11 July 2006 caused massive loss of life. More than 180 people were killed and hundreds wounded in those bombings, which were blamed on Islamist militants.

The city suffered four bomb attacks during 2003, including twin blasts on 25 August 2003 which killed 52 people.

In 1993, 257 people were killed and 700 injured in a series of 12 bomb blasts across the city. The attacks were allegedly ordered by the Muslim-dominated underworld in retaliation for Hindu-Muslim riots.

more info : BBC

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