At least 135 people were killed in seven explosions on the railway network in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, during the evening rush hour on Tuesday, police said.
The blasts, which officials said injured at least 250 people, occurred at packed railway stations in the Matunga, Khar, Santacruz, Jogeshwari, Borivali and Bhayendar localities in and around Mumbai, the Press Trust of India said.
CNN said hundreds were injured, and reported that the country, including all airports, was put on high alert. Television footage showed railway carriages split in half by the explosions. Locals and fellow commuters were working to help the injured and remove bodies from the trains.
The blasts were caused by explosives, police said. ”Forensic experts have been called in and they will determine what kind of explosives were used in these blasts,” Mumbai police Commissioner AN Roy said. ”Obviously a terrorist outfit is behind the blasts because a normal human being could not have done this.”
Authorities shut down the rail service in the western suburbs of Mumbai.
The blasts occurred within minutes of each other, with the first taking place at 6.24pm in a crowded train carriage at Khar, officials said.
”The fourth carriage is completely wrecked and we have seen between eight and 10 heavily injured people being brought out,” said a witness, local shopkeeper Gopi Chand. ”The blast was so powerful that we thought we were hit by lightning. It shook our market.”
Television footage showed dazed commuters with blood dripping from gaping injuries being carried by fellow travellers to waiting ambulances near Mahim station. Others frantically tried to call their relatives on cellphones.
Police said the blasts occurred on first-class carriages of the commuter trains.
The sprawling city, which is noted for its extensive underworld, has seen several bombings in the past. It was rocked in 1993 by a series of blasts that killed about 250 people and injured more than 1 000.
On March 9, two separate blasts rocked the holy Hindu city of Varanasi, leaving more than a dozen killed and scores injured.
Police have blamed Muslim underground figures or Kashmiri militants for most of the blasts. — AFP, Reuters, staff reporter