Indian police used sniffer dogs and picked through the wreckage for clues on Wednesday after a series of bombs blew apart trains and killed 190 people in the financial capital, Mumbai.
The teeming city, symbol of the growing economic power of the world’s largest democracy, was trying to get back to normal a day after the seven apparently coordinated blasts, which also left hundreds wounded.
With international condolences and condemnation still pouring in, investigators were reportedly looking at an Islamic student group’s links to a militant movement based in neighbouring Pakistan.
Newspapers said police were probing links between the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (Simi) and Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Army of the Pious, a militant group banned in India and Pakistan and dubbed terrorists by the United States.
The Hindu newspaper, quoting “highly placed government sources”, said the bombings were “clearly a job of Lashkar” and designed to raise “the tempo of communal violence”.
“They were definitely bombs,” said AP Sinha, an official from the state of Maharashtra, of which the western metropolis of about 17-million people is the capital. “Experts will have to determine what kinds of explosives were used.”
The explosions hit within minutes of each other during Tuesday’s evening rush hour, wrecking packed trains in what appeared to an attempt to kill and injure as many people as possible.
Many places across the country were on high alert while the stock exchange in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, was open for business.
The choice of first-class train cars and stations along the city’s affluent western commuter line indicated the bombings were intended to hit people “who represented the face of globalising Mumbai”, the Hindustan Times said.
Overwhelmed hospitals were battling to cope with grisly injuries among the roughly 500 people wounded.
“We’ve got all kinds of traumatic injuries, some lost limbs,” said doctor Supriya Kulkarni.
“We’ve amputated some [limbs] and people have lost a lot of blood.”
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed “terrorists” in a statement late on Tuesday but declined to speculate on who might be responsible. Neighbouring Pakistan called the attacks a “despicable act”.
India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of letting Islamic militants cross over into its part of Kashmir, the disputed northern territory claimed in full by both nations. Pakistan denies the allegations.
The nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir ‒ where eight people were killed in grenade attacks before the train blasts Tuesday — and the violence cast a shadow over their slow-moving peace process.
US President George Bush said the train attacks would bolster the world’s resolve to battle terrorism as he and wife Laura sent “deepest condolences” to relatives and friends of the dead.
“Such acts only strengthen the resolve of the international community to stand united against terrorism and to declare unequivocally that there is no justification for the vicious murder of innocent people,” Bush said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the bombings “brutal and shameful”. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was “appalled”.
Police and government sources said a timing device was found near one of the rail stations and an unexploded device may also have been discovered.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister RR Patil told reporters that the blasts represented an intelligence failure.
“It’s not just the state intelligence department and the elite anti-terrorist squad that failed. Even the intelligence bureau at the Centre had no inkling of the blasts,” Patil was quoted as saying in the Times of India.
‘Mumbai is the same’
Dilip Khadaria settled into his first-class compartment and scoffed at the idea of violence stopping him from travelling on Mumbai’s trains.
“Terrorists can do anything they like,” the 52-year-old said on the western line on Wednesday.
“We are businessmen, we will be going back to work. It won’t hamper our business, it won’t stop our work,” he said.
“I believe in the police’s security,” said student Shripad Sawant, who was on his way to college in a first-class compartment — which were the main targets of the explosions.
“I have no idea who was behind this but Mumbai doesn’t stop.”
Travellers sat reading newspapers and talking quietly about the events of the previous evening.
The train network is vital to getting Mumbai to work with an estimated six million passengers travelling every day.
Authorities declared that all schools and colleges would remain open, giving the impression of a city under control and going back to work.
The Mumbai stock exchange was open, and shares were even up in morning trading.
“Whatever happens, I’m going to work,” said Mahendra Jadhav (45) a clerk for the Mumbai Port Trust. “Some people say they want to stay at home but for me it’s important to go to work.”
Some television reports indicated that some carriages were not as busy as normal after an evening of chaos along one of the key suburban railway lines in the city.
Two main lines run through the island city on the west coast of India, from the main residential areas to the north to the traditional centre of business in the southern tip of the peninsula city.
Nearly 90% of local trips in Mumbai are made by bus or train.
The authorities said extra security had been put in place at the airport as the financial capital and the rest of the state of Maharashtra — where Mumbai is the capital — continued to be on high alert.
Many people were going home on the early trains on Wednesday after being stuck in the traffic chaos on Tuesday night, after staying in their offices or being taken in by other people in Mumbai.
Banker Javed Quazi (23) was travelling home in a second class carriage. “I’m afraid to travel in the train but I need to go home. I will assess the situation as and when to go back again.”
Ashish Pawar (32) was also heading home after a night at the office but said he would return to work after freshening up at home.
“I’ll come back no matter what,” he said.
Ancy Fernandes (36) a secretary, expressed concerns before she prepared to board a train but put a brave face on the situation and praised those who helped fellow citizens the evening before.
“It’s okay, it’s nothing much,” she said. “Mumbai is the same.” – AFP