At least 174 killed in Indian train blasts
Prime minister says 'terrorists' behind attacks
MUMBAI, India (CNN) -- A series of seven explosions killed at least 174 people on crowded commuter trains and stations Tuesday evening in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai, police said.
Officials said more than 380 people were injured in the blasts in the city's western suburbs as commuters made their way home. All seven blasts came within an 11-minute span, between 6:24 and 6:35 p.m. (8:54 and 9:05 a.m. ET).
There was some confusion about the number of dead and injured as information was compiled from hospitals and explosion sites in Mumbai, the west Indian seaport previously called Bombay.
CNN-IBN correspondent Jency Jacob was aboard one of the trains during the attacks.
"People started running helter-skelter and started jumping from the train," Jacob said. (Watch rescuers pull victims from wrecked trains -- 1:59)
"When I jumped from the train, I saw that the first-class compartment was totally ripped apart and people were hanging from the train. There are some people who were thrown out from the train and they were lying on the track, bleeding completely." (Read a full account of the horror Jacob witnessed)
One person was arrested in New Delhi in police raids after the explosions, reported CNN-IBN, CNN's sister network, but there's been no claim of responsibility for the attacks.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged calm and said the attacks were "shocking and cowardly attempts to spread a feeling of fear and terror."
"I reiterate our commitment to fighting terror in all its forms," he said in a written statement.
Video footage from a train station showed people in bloodstained clothes receiving medical treatment, while others were carrying victims and some lying motionless near railroad tracks. Windows of a train appeared to be spattered with blood.
At least one train was split in half.
'Limbs lying everywhere'
The blasts hit trains or platforms at the Khar, Mahim, Matunga, Jogeshwari, Borivili -- the site of two explosions -- and Bhayander stations. The eighth explosion struck a train between the Khar and Santacruz stations, a police official told CNN-IBN.
Police also found and defused another bomb at the Borivili station, according to CNN-IBN.
Jacob said after his train was attacked he moved toward the back of the train where he "could see some explosives, some pipes that were falling down. The police were investigating that. It seems to be that the explosive was packed off in pipes and kept in the first class men's compartment."
A CNN-IBN correspondent who was on one of the trains said it was leaving a station when the blast occurred. People jumped and were killed as the train hit them.
"Limbs [are] lying everywhere, bodies [were] cleared from the tracks by local business owners who rushed from their shops," the correspondent said.
Another CNN-IBN correspondent reported seeing 15 bodies at the Matunga station.
People living almost two miles (three kilometers) away from the Borivili station said they heard the blast.
The Western Railway system -- which 4.5 million people use daily -- was shut down and Mumbai's subway system put on high alert after the blasts. Police in the capital of New Delhi also heightened security.
Airports across India were put on high alert, too.
Blasts appear to follow terrorist pattern
U.S. officials said the blasts followed a pattern of initiated by two Islamic terrorist groups -- Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed -- who focus on the territory of Kashmir, whose control is disputed by India and Pakistan.
Kashmiri separatists were blamed for twin car-bombings that killed 53 people in Mumbai in August 2003 as well as an attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi in 2001.
In March 1993, more than 250 people were killed when at least 13 bombs were detonated around Mumbai. That attack followed a wave of fighting between India's Hindu and Muslim communities.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf strongly condemned the attacks, and a statement released by his country's Foreign Ministry called them a "despicable act of terrorism."
"Terrorism is the bane of our times and it must be condemned, rejected and countered effectively and comprehensively," the statement said.
Earlier Tuesday, a grenade attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed at least four people. Authorities suspect militants are responsible for that attack on a minibus in Srinagar. There was no immediate indication of a connection to the Mumbai blasts.
Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said the government had some advance knowledge that such an attack might take place. "What we didn't have was the place and the time," Patil said.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapc...sts/index.html
...looks like terrorist acts are ON THE MOVE again... tsk tsk tsk...
Bombing in INDIA! At least 174 killed in Train blast..
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