No leads on Mumbai bombings yet, minister says

Jul 14, 2011, 5:36 GMT

New Delhi - Indian police had no immediate leads on the multiple bombings in Mumbai, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said Thursday, as major Indian cities were on high alert following the terrorist attacks.

Chidambaram, who visited the three blast sites in India's financial capital, revised the death toll in Wednesday's attacks to 18. He also said 131 people were wounded in the 'coordinated attacks' of which 23 were seriously injured.

'All groups that have the capacity to carry out such terror attacks are suspect. We are not pointing a finger at this stage to this group or that group,' Chidambaram told reporters in Mumbai.

'All angles will be investigated, all premises will be examined and all leads will be followed without any predetermination,' he said.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attacks at the city's Zaveri Bazar, the Opera House business district and central Dadar area which took place during the evening rush hour.

Investigators began their probe immediately after the attacks Wednesday night, Chidambaram said, denying reports that forensic evidence was lost in heavy monsoon rains following the bombings.

Asked whether the bombings could affect India's upcoming peace talks with rival Pakistan if a Pakistani militant group was involved, Chidambaram replied that all known outfits were being investigated.

'We live in the most troubled neighbourhood in the world. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the epicentre of terrorism,' he said.

Chidambaram dismissed accusations of an intelligence failure, saying there were no intelligence warnings of an imminent attack.

'Whoever has perpetrated this attack this attack has worked in a very, very clandestine manner, maybe a very small group that has not communicated with each other,' he said.

All three bombs, described as low- to medium-intensity, went off within a 15-minute period starting around 6.45 pm (1315 GMT). A car and a motorcycle were used in the attacks, police officials said.

The most powerful bombing was at the Opera House area, considered a hub for diamond traders.

Another blast hit Zaveri Bazaar, a crowded jewellers' market in the south of the city that was bombed twice before, in 1993 and 2003. The third was at a bus stop in Dadar, near many areas and bazaars.

Indian media outlets expressed shock and anger at the latest attacks on the city, home to the Hindi film industry or Bollywood.

'We're all sitting ducks,' ran the banner headline in the Economic Times. 'Mumbai Again,' said Indian Express.

On Thursday, business establishments, bourses and schools opened as usual as Mumbai'kers ventured out of their homes and returned to their daily chores.

'We shall not be scared by these terror attacks,' Archana Shukla, who commutes to work in south Mumbai, told the IANS news agency.

'Like me, tens of thousands of co-commuters are on the trains, buses and roads. It actually gives strength to each other,' she said.

Security agencies were on high alert in Mumbai, national capital New Delhi and key metropolises such as Kolkata and Chennai.

The attacks were the deadliest in the country since November 2008, when 10 Pakistani gunmen attacked several locations in the city, including high-end hotels and the main railway station, killing 166 people and injuring 244 over three days.

India recently resumed talks with Pakistan over border issues and the disputed Kashmir region, which had been suspended following the 2008 attacks.

The city has been repeatedly targeted by militants. On March 12, 1993, 13 bombs killed 200 people and wounded more than 1,000. In July 2006, bombs exploded in trains and stations at rush hour, killing 187 people and wounding more than 700.