World | India
Mumbai death toll rises
Police in Mumbai have said that 182 people were killed and more than 600 injured by the blasts which rocked Mumbai's rail network on Tuesday evening.
- By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 July 11, 2006
Mumbai: The death toll from the series of blasts on Mumbai's commuter rail network has risen to 183, according to police figures released on Wednesday morning.
Police also said that 624 people had been injured by the eight explosions which rocked India's financial capital during Tuesday's rush hour.
The blasts, described as very powerful and destructive by passengers and witnesses, ripped through the first and second class compartments of trains on the Western Railway (WR) - that carries more than six million passengers daily.
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The serial blasts were a grim and frightening reminder of what has been happening in Mumbai since 1993 as scenes of mutilated bodies, the injured in a state of shock and twisted steel-framed rail compartments indicated the scale of the tragedy.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the evening rush hour attacks. But suspicion was likely to centre on militants fighting New Delhi's rule in disputed Kashmir.
City Police Commissioner A.N. Roy said, "We are not sure if it is RDX or not," referring to the possible use of high-powered plastic explosives.
As Mumbai's office-goers started returning home from Western Railway's terminus at Churchgate, the first of the blasts occurred at Khar and Bandra at 6.24pm, to be followed by blasts at Jogeshwari at 6.25pm, Mahim at 6.26pm, Mira Road at 6.29pm, Matunga at 6.30pm and Borivali at 6.35pm. One bomb was defused at Borivili.
The situation was compounded by a network failure of mobile phones and families waiting at home tried for hours to reach out to their relatives.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Police Commissioner Ray have appealed to the people to remain calm and not react to rumours.
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 rumours and carry on their activity normally," Singh said in a statement, calling the explosions a "shameful act".
Senior ministers and security officials were to travel to Mumbai from New Delhi later on Tuesday.
Singh immediately called the home (interior) minister and top officials to an emergency meeting to discuss the violence.
"Security has been definitely put on high alert," Home Secretary V.K. Duggal told reporters ahead of the meeting.
The Mumbai blasts came just hours after suspected militants killed seven people, six of them tourists, in a series of grenade attacks in Indian Kashmir's main city, Srinagar, police said.
The United States condemned the blasts as "senseless acts of violence" and bemoaned a "terrible tragedy" for the people of India. Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz expressed their condemnation over "this despicable act of terrorism" and offered condolences for the loss of life.
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