7/11

9/11, 3/11, 7/7 and now this:

Seven explosions hit Mumbai's transit system as commuters were returning home from work during the evening rush on Tuesday, killing up to 100 people and injuring more than 300, police said.

The explosions tore apart locomotives and scattered bodies around the tracks, as shown on Indian television.

“More casualties are expected,” Global Radio News reporter Arun Asthana said.

The Indian home minister said on Indian television that authorities had information of an attack but did not know when or where it was to occur.

Police were also reportedly carrying out raids across the country following the explosions, presumably in search of suspects.

Sometimes they blow up civilians for Palestine, sometimes for Chechnya, sometimes (as is almost certain in this case) for Kashmir. But it's all the same war.

Damian P.

Update: MSNBC puts the death toll at 147. The Indian and U.S. governments are accusing Islamic extremists of carrying out the coordinated bombings:

One of the officials said the attacks’ coordinated nature and their targeting of trains at peak travel times match the modus operandi of two Islamic extremist groups that have been active in India during the last several years: Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, or Army of the Righteous, and Jaish-e-Mohammad, or Army of Mohammed.

The U.S. government has designated both groups as terrorist organizations and considers them affiliates of al-Qaida.

A senior U.S. counterterrorism official told NBC News that the Mumbai attacks are “more likely than not” the work of Lashkar e Taiba, the Kashmir separatist group, based on early analysis of the attacks. Laskhar translates to "The Army of the Pure."

Pakistan, with whom India has gone to war several times, has condemned the attacks:

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry late Tuesday strongly condemned the Bombay attacks.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since the subcontinent was partitioned upon independence from Britain in 1947, two over Kashmir.

Dozens of militant groups have been fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, demanding the mostly Muslim region’s independence, or its merger with Pakistan.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf offered condolences over the loss of life, the Foreign Ministry said, adding: “Terrorism is a bane of our times and it must be condemned, rejected and countered effectively and comprehensively.”

New Delhi has accused Pakistan of training, arming and funding the militants. Islamabad insists it only offers the rebels diplomatic and moral support.

Accusations of Pakistani involvement in a 2001 attack on India’s parliament put the nuclear-armed rivals on the brink of a fourth war. But since then, Pakistan and India embarked on a peace process aimed at resolving their differences, including their conflicting claims to all of Jammu-Kashmir.

Posted by damian at July 11, 2006 01:22 PM