Indian police are today investigating who was behind three co-ordinated bomb blasts that killed at least 18 people in Mumbai, the biggest attack since Pakistani-based militants rampaged through the financial hub in 2008.
Mumbai police yesterday blamed attacks on the Indian Mujahideen, a shadowy home-grown Islamist group said to have support from militants in Pakistan, according to source-based media reports that could not be independently confirmed.
The government's official press office lowered the death toll from an earlier figure of 21 killed, although the number may change again.
The bombings were the biggest militant attack on Mumbai since the 2008 assaults killed 166 people, raised tensions with neighbour and nuclear rival Pakistan, and left a city on edge.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts.
The explosions came as beleaguered prime minister Manmohan Singh struggles to get past a series of corruption scandals and a resurgent opposition that has led to policy paralysis in Asia's third largest economy. A cabinet reshuffle this week was criticised as too little, too late.
The bombings, centered mainly on south Mumbai's jewellery market area, were described by the Home Ministry as "terror attacks." "This is another attack on the heart of India, heart of Mumbai. We will fully meet the challenge, we are much better prepared than 26/11," Prithviraj Chavan, the state's chief minister, told NDTV on last night, referring to the 2008 attacks.
The explosions occurred at about 6.45pm local time yesterday within minutes of each other. At least one car and a motorbike were used in the coordinated attacks in which improvised explosive devices were believed to have been used, officials said.
The biggest blast was in the Opera House area, a hub for diamond traders. Pakistani-based militants carried out the bloody rampage in 2008 near the same popular area.
Another blast, also in south Mumbai, was at the Zaveri Bazaar, India's largest bullion market which was hit twice in the past. The third blast was at Dadar, in a crowded street housing Muslim and Hindu shops in the centre of the coastal city.
Reuters