Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

3 bombs detonated in Mumbai, 8 dead, 70 injured

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • 3 bombs detonated in Mumbai, 8 dead, 70 injured

    Cowardice at its finest...

    3 bomb blasts in Mumbai; 8 killed, 70 injured - India News - IBNLive

    New Delhi: At least eight people have been killed and 70 others injured in three bomb blasts that rocked Mumbai on Wednesday evening in the crowded Dadar, Opera House and Zaveri Bazar areas.
    Union Home Ministry confirmed that the blasts are terror strikes.
    The blasts went off within minutes of each other.
    Police, ambulance, home guards and fire brigade have been rushed to the spot. The first blast took place in south Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar, near the famous Mumbadevi temple, in which some people were injured, said Mumbai Police spokesperson Nisar Tamboli.
    The second explosion was reported in a taxi in Dadar area, he said. "We are verifying the nature of explosions. At this moment I cannot say anything more than this," Tamboli said.
    Home Secretary has spoken to Maharashtra DGP and the National Security Guards (NSG) have been put on standby.
    Union Home Secretary RK Singh told CNN-IBN, "I have spoken to the DGP and Chief Secretary. The Chief Secretary will get back to us with details. There is no confirmation about the intensity of blasts."
    According to an eyewitness a fire that broke out in Zaveri Bazar following the blasts has been brought under control.
    Security alerts have been issued in Delhi after the blasts in Mumbai.
    No NIA team is going to Mumbai as of now.
    From Stratfor.

    Three explosions have been reported in Mumbai on July 13 in the crowded Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar areas of the city. The explosions began around 7:10 p.m. local time and took place within minutes of each other. There are reports that a fourth bomb, likely at the Roxy Theater, did not explode. Current casualty estimates are that five people died and 100 were injured; these estimates continue to rise.

    This marks the first major attack in India since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Though the magnitude of these attacks has yet to be determined, this attack does not appear to be as sophisticated as the 2008 attacks, which involved a multi-man assault team that coordinated 10 shooting and bombing attacks across the city. Nonetheless, the attack comes at a critical juncture in U.S.-Pakistani relations as the United States is trying to accelerate a withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan. The 2008 Mumbai attacks revealed the extent to which traditional Pakistan-based Islamist militant groups, such as elements from the defunct Lashkar-e-Taiba, had collaborated with transnational jihadist elements like al Qaeda in trying to instigate a crisis between Islamabad and New Delhi. Such a crisis would complicate U.S.-Pakistani dealings on Afghanistan, potentially serving the interests of not only al Qaeda but also possibly factions within Pakistan trying to derail a negotiation between the United States and Pakistan.
    Red Alert: Multiple Explosions in Mumbai | STRATFOR
    "Who says organization, says oligarchy"

  • #2
    Just great

    Keep wondering who has benefit from killing civilians.

    Sad day indeed.
    No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

    To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

    Comment


    • #3
      Live Blog: Blasts in Mumbai - India Real Time - WSJ

      Real Time Updates
      "Who says organization, says oligarchy"

      Comment


      • #4
        RIP the dead.
        Cow is the only animal that not only inhales oxygen, but also exhales it.
        -Rekha Arya, Former Minister of Animal Husbandry

        Comment


        • #5
          Vile scum - may they meet the 72 Virginians ASAP. All my sympathies to the victims.
          sigpic"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees.
          If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children."

          Comment


          • #6
            And so it continues. My sympathies....
            In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

            Leibniz

            Comment


            • #7
              Heartiest sympathies for the victims. May the perps roast in hell
              "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" ~ Epicurus

              Comment


              • #8
                India's Forever War
                July 14, 2011 10:09 IST


                It would certainly be much better if the citizens of Mumbai [ Images ] decide that for one day they will not do what they are supposed to do and ask their government for some explanations, says Harsh V Pant.
                Here we go again! Mumbai has once again been struck. The tolerance capacity of India [ Images ] will certainly leave no one in any doubt, much least the terrorists themselves. They must surely be reveling in the weak-kneed response of the Indian government towards these atrocities.


                The blase and banal response from the prime minister and others that the nation will fight and root out terrorists will not fool anybody about the inherent lack of will in the government to tackle this menace effectively.

                It was in 2006 that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [ Images ] had stated that 'we will leave no stone unturned, I reiterate, no stone unturned, in ensuring that terrorist elements in India are neutralised and smashed.' What has happened since then remains a story of indecision, dithering, and incompetence.

                No doubt, as in the past, we will soon be celebrating the ability of Mumbai to take these attacks in its stride and get back to work. But surely, this chalta hai attitude is also responsible for the slumber of the government?

                It would certainly be much better if the citizens of Mumbai decide that for one day they will not do what they are supposed to do and will ask their government for some explanations. It's difficult, but it needs to be done.

                How long can this go on? Do we value the lives of our citizens or not? It's not enough anymore to say, as the prime minister has done, that terrorism won't hinder India's progress. What does he mean when he says that we will win the war on terror? The Indian public, which has been suffering this recurring onslaught of violence, has a right to some answers.

                A terrorist attack in New York changes the contours of US foreign policy forever. A terrorist attack in London [ Images ] generates a whole new debate on domestic terror laws and the threat of Islamic radicalism in UK. But even after countless terrorist attacks in India, nothing changes. One wonders if even the Indian politicians have new statements to make after so long.

                The only response that the government could come up with was reiterating the same old platitude that we will win the war against terror as if winning this war is an apple that will fall in the government's lap at an appropriate time.

                The question is that after sympathies have been expressed and 'external forces' have been blamed, what next? And the answer is that the government will get back to its business as usual with ministers trying to please the Gandhis, Rahul Gandhi [ Images ] will keep on rediscovering India, the prime minister will retreat in his own shell, and the Opposition will get back to its business of sorting out its internal disarray.

                The lives lost in Mumbai will be forgotten as have innumerable other lives that have been lost to the scourge of terrorism. India will move on as will Mumbai. But the terrorists who have done this will not, as they plan their next attacks. They know well that the ever-forgiving Indian government knows only one way to respond -- with high-sounding, but meaningless words.

                The Indian government's response has always been an ad hoc one to such atrocities without any attempt to evolve a coherent policy that tells clearly to the perpetrators of terrorism that India will not be tolerant of terror, ever, in any form.

                After all, it was India's then foreign minister Jaswant Singh [ Images ], who personally escorted three murderous terrorists to freedom after the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight in December 1999, making it perfectly clear that the Indian State will bow to the demands of terror, howsoever unreasonable they might be.

                One can reasonably argue that for a liberal democracy combating terrorism is always difficult as the law of the land must prevail and there should not be a resort to draconian measures not considered legitimate by the majority. But conversely, the survival of a liberal, democratic environment is predicated upon a decent measure of security that a government can offer to its citizens. It would not take much to destroy the liberal ethos of this country if the citizens of this country feel that they are never secure. And therefore a robust response of the government is needed.

                Why is India being targeted, after all? Because India is a liberal democracy where the second-largest Muslim population of the world has a political voice as potent as the majority? Because the Indian model is a challenge to those fanatics who believe that there is only one way of living and that's their way? Because India provides space to all kinds of voices and expressions even when they challenge the ethos of the country? Because India enjoys good relations with Israel and the US, the two global villains, that are somehow deemed responsible for all the evils in the Middle East?

                If yes, then all these claims demand only one response: An unequivocal stance from the Indian government not to bow to the demands of terror. India cannot be blackmailed into changing the foundations of its political system and India cannot be blackmailed into pursuing a foreign policy that goes contrary its national interests.

                After all from a country that aspires to the status of a great power, nothing less can be expected. But more importantly, the idea of India is too powerful to be sacrificed at the altar of a few fanatics.

                But we need a government that is able to stand up and make sure that this message gets out to those who are all too happy to see a government in a perpetual state of indecision. We need a concerted, sustained counter-terrorism strategy, instead of mere political rhetoric, pieties and platitudes.

                The problem is clearly bigger than Pakistan's support for extremists in its territories. There's a home-grown element to this problem that requires addressing and that requires some hard choices.

                Let us not be in any doubt that the war on terror poses new legal challenges and grave moral dilemmas for the world and this is especially true for democracies. But it's time for the largest democracy in the world to face these challenges head on. That would be the best tribute to those who lost their lives in Mumbai and to the innumerable other victims of terrorism.

                Dr Harsh V Pant is with the Defence Studies Department, King's College London.

                Harsh V Pant
                Column: India's Forever War - Rediff.com India News
                And the Indian blood keeps oozing.....
                Feets of clay indeed.
                Rest in Peace.
                sigpicAnd on the sixth day, God created the Field Artillery...

                Comment


                • #9
                  NightWatch 20110714
                  India: According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, on 13 July in Mumbai, three coordinated attacks using home-made bombs killed 21 and injured 141people. Because of the close timing of the blasts, "we infer that this was a coordinated attack by terrorists," Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said.

                  India's preliminary investigations into the blasts found that seven improvised explosive devices were used and were wrapped in cloth bags and tiffin boxes. The Home Affairs Ministry said that the Indian Mujahidin is the most probable perpetrator.

                  Comment: The style of the attacks was amateurish compared to the sensational November 2008 attacks in Mumbai. The Indian Mujahedin appears to be a home grown Indian Muslim operation, aided by and possibly a proxy for Pakistan-based Islamic terrorists, but operating more or less autonomously.

                  The immediate effect of this attack will be to focus official investigations against the Indian Islamic population which exceeds 120 million people, rather than against Pakistan. Indian pressure on Pakistan to do more to restrain terrorists will ease for a time. Nevertheless, the involvement of Pakistani terrorists almost certainly will emerge.

                  One likely casualty of this attack will be the recent resumption of talks between Indian and Pakistani senior civil servants, which was just getting started again.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Find peace in the afterlife, for you would never know why you were killed.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      God Bless.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Rest in Peace
                        Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

                        Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Rest in Peace

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Business of terror | Times of India | Jul 17, 2011

                            Josy Joseph, TNN | Jul 17, 2011, 06.10am IST

                            Amidst several theories about who was behind the latest serial blasts in Mumbai, a deeply troubling new question is haunting investigators. Has money begun playing a bigger role than ideology? And are the motivations and anger of fringe groups being translated into action executed by criminals, sometimes so lowly that they are conveniently anonymous?

                            Doubts about the outsourcing of terror are cropping up again among a growing number of officials in the security establishment because of the inability of investigators to make sense of the jigsaw of terror in the past few years. "Even in cases where we have been able to achieve a breakthrough, there are significant gaps," says a senior official.

                            The spectacular nature of terror strikes then may not be backed by a similarly effective terror organization. There are indications that the whole business is being outsourced to local criminal gangs or individuals who would, for instance, carry out the recce, identify the spot and plant the bomb. All for adequate compensation.

                            This assumption, signs of which are now available in several recent cases, is prompting many within the establishment to suspect that at least some of the terrorist attacks may not be the handiwork of a singular organization; they could be acts executed through multiple layers, with the final operation handed over to people who actually may have nothing to do with the ideology behind it.

                            "For a few thousand rupees you can get criminals to place a bomb. They don't need any other particular capability," an officer says. "Unlike in the '90s, when we were able to track a crime of such nature from particulars of the man who planted the bomb, and trace it up to the very top, we are unable to connect the dots clearly today. The gaps in our investigations, between the attacker and the ideological top, are increasing."

                            Such gaps are visible in many of the serials blasts in Indian cities like Jaipur and Delhi, and even in the 2006 train blasts of Mumbai, the IC-814 hijack of 1999, and the Parliament attack. In fact, it was only in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that agencies had direct, credible evidence of the attackers' Pakistani links, thanks to the interception of communications between terrorists in Mumbai and their handlers in Pakistan.

                            The outsourcing of terror to criminals and others not really connected to the ideology is visible in most of the attacks of recent times, be it by Hindu fringe groups or Islamic fundamentalists. One officer points out that the way the Karachi Project (the ISI plan to recruit Indians to carry out terror strikes so that blame does not go back to Pakistan) is being executed, it is a definite example of how terrorism is finally being carried out by criminals.

                            Riyaz Bhatkal, the co-founder of Indian Mujahideen (believed to be an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba for executing the Karachi Project), had been part of a criminal syndicate in Mumbai before he turned to terrorism. Investigators also suspect that some other members of IM, who are involved in executing the blasts, are criminal elements. "Ideology is not the sole motive. Money and protection plays a key part," an intelligence officer says. The creation of Indian Mujahideen may be a part of the Pakistani establishment's continuing strategy to bleed India from a thousand cuts, but its existence and survival are dependent on men like Bhatkal, he adds.

                            A similar pattern is visible among the Hindu fundamentalist group that was behind blasts in places like Mecca Masjid, Ajmer and in the Samjhauta Express. Sunil Joshi, one of the co-conspirators in the attacks, had earlier been charged with the murder of tribal leader Pyar Singh Nenama. Harshad Solanki, who is an accused in Gujarat's Best Bakery case, is another key player in the so-called right-wing terror module.

                            "What is emerging clearly is the fact that at the execution level there are these criminal elements who would do anything for a price," one officer says. And he believes that this concept of outsourcing may now have become the norm in terrorism and insurgency-related incidents across the country. Many say that in Kashmir and the Northeast, most of the violence in the name of insurgency is merely local criminal operations.

                            What makes outsourcing an added attraction today is the ease with which a bomb can be assembled and planted, meaning those doing it don't have to put themselves to much trouble. An Army explosives expert points out that putting together a bomb with RDX would require "fairly sophisticated levels of understanding" while assembling a bomb using TNT (trinitrotoluene) or ammonium nitrate is a far easier process that can be done by an amateur. All one needs is a timer, a detonator, the required explosives and shrapnel. "For a few thousand rupees, one can get a pretty potent bomb," he says.

                            Attesting this theory, an officer reminds how investigators in the German Bakery case in Pune had failed to link the suspect found in CCTV recordings to known sympathizers. "Ultimately, you are only looking at a limited number of suspects who have cropped up in previous investigations. What if the bomb planter is a new person?" an intelligence officer asks. A similar reason could be behind the inability to crack the attack in the Jama Masjid area of Delhi just before the Commonwealth Games, when two motorcycle-borne youths shot at a bus full of tourists.

                            But not all are convinced. Rana Banerjee, a retired senior Research and Analysis Wing officer (R&AW), says that a majority of the attacks are still carried out in the name of ideology. "If the outsourcing is happening, it is definitely to proven and tested outfits that may not have the same driving principles," he says. A senior officer spoken to for this article argues that Mumbai being repeatedly targeted should make those probing the attacks "think in very unorthodox manners", including the possibility of the bomb planters being completely unconnected to the brains behind it. "How really is Mumbai different from, say, Delhi? The impact of an attack would be the same and so would the mix of the population," he says. "One big difference is the presence of organised criminal gangs and the underworld in Mumbai. It is an area we need to probe better."

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Transcript of the NDTV interview with Maharashtra's CM about the blasts.

                              Couldn't contact police chief for 15 minutes after Mumbai blasts, says Chavan | NDTV | July 15, 2011

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X