The Economic Times
MUMBAI: Terror struck Mumbai when three serial blasts rocked crowded areas in Zaveri Bazar, Dadar and the Opera House this evening killing 17 people and leaving over 80 injured in three explosions in Mumbai in a grim reminder of 26/11 when 166 people were killed.
In New Delhi, the Union Home Ministry said the multiple explosions were a terror strike and that Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) were used. Home Minister P Chidambaram said that the death toll could rise and appealed to the people of the country to remain calm. He said that National Security Guard (NSG) which has a hub in Mumbai was put on standby.
Chidambaram said a team of forensic experts and National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths were being rushed to the city to collect evidences from the blast sites. They would join the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) in the investigation.
The first explosion took place in south Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar, near famous Mumbadevi temple. The second explosion was reported in a taxi in Dadar area. The third blast was reported from Opera House in Charni.
At Dadar, the blast took place at a bus stop, in the busy market area, damaging a substantial portion of the structure injuring several people.
Splattered blood, glass shrapnels, damaged vehicles, dazed and bleeding people were seen at the blast site.
Policemen swamped the area with their bomb and vapour detection gadgets and armoured vehicles within minutes of the explosion.
A Maruti Esteem car with shattered windscreen and damaged boot, which reportedly had three people in it, was parked close to the bus stop.
The blast site, a stone's throw from the Plaza, a big shopping area of central Mumbai, saw huge commotion as the explosion was followed by sparks in an electric meter box at the bus stand.
A shopowner Sadashiv Kamble said he saw three people sitting in the car. "Everything came upon me. I immediately ran for my life," Kamble said.
"I heard a loud explosion. I saw people having serious injuries lying in a pool of blood," another eyewitness said.
The other two blasts occured at Opera House and the busy Zaveri Bazaar.
A security alert was sounded in the national capital this evening following a series of blasts in Mumbai and police personnel were fanned across the city to carry out intensive searches and checkings.
At about 6:45 pm, the first explosion took place at Shakeel Memon street in south Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar, near the famous Mumbadevi temple, in which 25 persons were injured, Mumbai Police spokesman Nisar Tamboli said.
BBC News
Mumbai: Explosions shake India's financial hub
Three near-simultaneous explosions have shaken India's commercial capital Mumbai (Bombay), police say. Seventeen people were killed and 81 injured, said Maharashtra state's chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.
He called the explosions, during Mumbai's busy evening rush-hour, "a co-ordinated attack by terrorists".
One explosion was reported in the Zaveri Bazaar, another in the Opera House business district and a third in Dadar district in the city centre.
Police sources were reported as saying the explosions were caused by home-made bombs.
The attacks are the worst in Mumbai since November 2008 when 10 gunmen launched a three-day co-ordinated raid in which 166 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 (1330 GMT) as workers were making their way home.
Mumbai has been put on a state of high alert and a commando team is standing by, said Home Minister P Chidambaram.
Delhi, the capital, Calcutta and several other cities have also been put on alert. Mr Chidambaram urged people across the country to stay calm.
Forensics teams have been sent from Delhi and Hyderabad to examine the explosion sites.
The authorities have not yet said who they believe might be behind the explosions and no group has said it carried them out.
The blast in Zaveri Bazaar, a famous jewellery market in the south of Mumbai, was reported to have gone off in a shop, says the BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Mumbai.
One witness, photographer Rutavi Mehta, told the BBC he was shopping nearby and heard the explosion. He grabbed his camera and ran to the scene.
"I took a couple of photographs. I think they might be too graphic for broadcast," he told the BBC.
"Bodies and limbs were strewn everywhere. People were crying and screaming. The area was packed with shoppers at the time of the blast. A few offered assistance to the blood-soaked victims, while others looked on in a state of shock," he said.
"It was totally chaos. There were pools of blood everywhere."
Another explosion hit the nearby Opera House district, at a time when it would have been crowded with workers and commuters.
The third blast in Dadar district, in the city centre, went off in a taxi next to a bus stop, reports say.
One eyewitness from the scene there told our correspondent he saw the bus stop and a car torn apart by the explosion.
According to some reports, the blasts came on the birthday of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 attacks.
But BBC correspondents say court records show his birthday to be in September.
Those attacks, which targeted two high-end hotels, a busy train station, a Jewish centre and other sites frequented by foreigners, were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.
Pakistan was quick to condemn the latest explosions, in a statement issued by the foreign ministry.
Peace talks between Pakistan and India have only recently resumed since they were broken off after the 2008 attacks.
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.
The Times of India
MUMBAI: Were today's synchronised blasts here a birthday gift for 26/11 terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab?
Born on July 13, 1987 in Pakistan, Kasab was one of the ten terrorists who carried out the three-day long attacks on the metropolis which began on the evening of November 26, 2008 and left 166 people dead.
Three blasts rocked the busy markets of Dadar, Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House on Wednesday, which also happens to be Kasab's 24th Birthday.
Dressed in a cargo and black T-shirt, Kasab unleashed a rein of terror at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station and Cama Hospital by opening fire from his automatic assault rifle.
The only attacker left alive after the carnage, Kasab has been languishing in Arthur Road prison here and was awarded death sentence by a trial court which was upheld by the Bombay High Court.
MUMBAI: Terror struck Mumbai when three serial blasts rocked crowded areas in Zaveri Bazar, Dadar and the Opera House this evening killing 17 people and leaving over 80 injured in three explosions in Mumbai in a grim reminder of 26/11 when 166 people were killed.
In New Delhi, the Union Home Ministry said the multiple explosions were a terror strike and that Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) were used. Home Minister P Chidambaram said that the death toll could rise and appealed to the people of the country to remain calm. He said that National Security Guard (NSG) which has a hub in Mumbai was put on standby.
Chidambaram said a team of forensic experts and National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths were being rushed to the city to collect evidences from the blast sites. They would join the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) in the investigation.
The first explosion took place in south Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar, near famous Mumbadevi temple. The second explosion was reported in a taxi in Dadar area. The third blast was reported from Opera House in Charni.
At Dadar, the blast took place at a bus stop, in the busy market area, damaging a substantial portion of the structure injuring several people.
Splattered blood, glass shrapnels, damaged vehicles, dazed and bleeding people were seen at the blast site.
Policemen swamped the area with their bomb and vapour detection gadgets and armoured vehicles within minutes of the explosion.
A Maruti Esteem car with shattered windscreen and damaged boot, which reportedly had three people in it, was parked close to the bus stop.
The blast site, a stone's throw from the Plaza, a big shopping area of central Mumbai, saw huge commotion as the explosion was followed by sparks in an electric meter box at the bus stand.
A shopowner Sadashiv Kamble said he saw three people sitting in the car. "Everything came upon me. I immediately ran for my life," Kamble said.
"I heard a loud explosion. I saw people having serious injuries lying in a pool of blood," another eyewitness said.
The other two blasts occured at Opera House and the busy Zaveri Bazaar.
A security alert was sounded in the national capital this evening following a series of blasts in Mumbai and police personnel were fanned across the city to carry out intensive searches and checkings.
At about 6:45 pm, the first explosion took place at Shakeel Memon street in south Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar, near the famous Mumbadevi temple, in which 25 persons were injured, Mumbai Police spokesman Nisar Tamboli said.
In New Delhi, the Union Home Ministry said the multiple explosions were a terror strike and that Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) were used. Home Minister P Chidambaram said that the death toll could rise and appealed to the people of the country to remain calm. He said that National Security Guard (NSG) which has a hub in Mumbai was put on standby.
Chidambaram said a team of forensic experts and National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths were being rushed to the city to collect evidences from the blast sites. They would join the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) in the investigation.
The first explosion took place in south Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar, near famous Mumbadevi temple. The second explosion was reported in a taxi in Dadar area. The third blast was reported from Opera House in Charni.
At Dadar, the blast took place at a bus stop, in the busy market area, damaging a substantial portion of the structure injuring several people.
Splattered blood, glass shrapnels, damaged vehicles, dazed and bleeding people were seen at the blast site.
Policemen swamped the area with their bomb and vapour detection gadgets and armoured vehicles within minutes of the explosion.
A Maruti Esteem car with shattered windscreen and damaged boot, which reportedly had three people in it, was parked close to the bus stop.
The blast site, a stone's throw from the Plaza, a big shopping area of central Mumbai, saw huge commotion as the explosion was followed by sparks in an electric meter box at the bus stand.
A shopowner Sadashiv Kamble said he saw three people sitting in the car. "Everything came upon me. I immediately ran for my life," Kamble said.
"I heard a loud explosion. I saw people having serious injuries lying in a pool of blood," another eyewitness said.
The other two blasts occured at Opera House and the busy Zaveri Bazaar.
A security alert was sounded in the national capital this evening following a series of blasts in Mumbai and police personnel were fanned across the city to carry out intensive searches and checkings.
At about 6:45 pm, the first explosion took place at Shakeel Memon street in south Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar, near the famous Mumbadevi temple, in which 25 persons were injured, Mumbai Police spokesman Nisar Tamboli said.
BBC News
Mumbai: Explosions shake India's financial hub
Three near-simultaneous explosions have shaken India's commercial capital Mumbai (Bombay), police say.
Seventeen people were killed and 81 injured, said Maharashtra state's chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.He called the explosions, during Mumbai's busy evening rush-hour, "a co-ordinated attack by terrorists".
One explosion was reported in the Zaveri Bazaar, another in the Opera House business district and a third in Dadar district in the city centre.
Police sources were reported as saying the explosions were caused by home-made bombs.
The attacks are the worst in Mumbai since November 2008 when 10 gunmen launched a three-day co-ordinated raid in which 166 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.
The latest explosions hit the city around 1900 (1330 GMT) as workers were making their way home.
Mumbai has been put on a state of high alert and a commando team is standing by, said Home Minister P Chidambaram.
Delhi, the capital, Calcutta and several other cities have also been put on alert. Mr Chidambaram urged people across the country to stay calm.
Forensics teams have been sent from Delhi and Hyderabad to examine the explosion sites.
The authorities have not yet said who they believe might be behind the explosions and no group has said it carried them out.
The blast in Zaveri Bazaar, a famous jewellery market in the south of Mumbai, was reported to have gone off in a shop, says the BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Mumbai.
One witness, photographer Rutavi Mehta, told the BBC he was shopping nearby and heard the explosion. He grabbed his camera and ran to the scene.
"I took a couple of photographs. I think they might be too graphic for broadcast," he told the BBC.
"Bodies and limbs were strewn everywhere. People were crying and screaming. The area was packed with shoppers at the time of the blast. A few offered assistance to the blood-soaked victims, while others looked on in a state of shock," he said.
"It was totally chaos. There were pools of blood everywhere."
Another explosion hit the nearby Opera House district, at a time when it would have been crowded with workers and commuters.
The third blast in Dadar district, in the city centre, went off in a taxi next to a bus stop, reports say.
One eyewitness from the scene there told our correspondent he saw the bus stop and a car torn apart by the explosion.
According to some reports, the blasts came on the birthday of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 attacks.
But BBC correspondents say court records show his birthday to be in September.
Pakistan was quick to condemn the latest explosions, in a statement issued by the foreign ministry.
Peace talks between Pakistan and India have only recently resumed since they were broken off after the 2008 attacks.
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.
The Times of India
Born on July 13, 1987 in Pakistan, Kasab was one of the ten terrorists who carried out the three-day long attacks on the metropolis which began on the evening of November 26, 2008 and left 166 people dead.
Three blasts rocked the busy markets of Dadar, Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House on Wednesday, which also happens to be Kasab's 24th Birthday.
Dressed in a cargo and black T-shirt, Kasab unleashed a rein of terror at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station and Cama Hospital by opening fire from his automatic assault rifle.
The only attacker left alive after the carnage, Kasab has been languishing in Arthur Road prison here and was awarded death sentence by a trial court which was upheld by the Bombay High Court.
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