Three bomb blasts in the Indian city of Mumbai have killed at least 17 people and and injured 131.
No organisation has yet claimed responsibility for the blasts, which Indian authorities said were caused by explosives planted on motorcycles and a scooter.
Reuters reported that suspicion was falling on the Indian Mujahideen (IM), “an underground terrorist group sworn to avenge the massacre of hundreds of Muslims in the neighbouring state of Gujarat.”
“The choice of neighbourhoods in south and central Mumbai suggested that, as in the past, the attempt was to terrorise the city’s businessmen, particularly from among its Gujarati community,” Reuters reported.
The first explosion occurred in rush hour at 6:54pm in the Zaveri bazaar, a well-known jewelry market. The second took place at 6:55pm at the Opera House, while the third bomb exploded at 7:05pm in the neighbourhood of Dadar.
The attack is the fourth major terrorist incident in India’s financial capital since 2003. The last attack, in November 2008, saw gunmen from Pakistani-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) rampage through the city for three days.
The LeT was also blamed for an attack in July 2006, with 180 people killed when seven explosions destroyed trains on the city’s commuter network.
Reuters reported than plans to set up 5000 surveillance cameras across the city had been gathering dust despite vast sums of money poured into counterterrorism efforts.
“We see a lack of political will to take this [protecting the city against terror attacks] on on an emergency basis,” CNN-IBN reported.
“Mumbai is a soft target, it will always remain a soft target. The only way to combat this is through good intelligence, and that’s not there.”
India and Maldives counter-terrorism cooperation
Indian interest in the Maldives is partly prompted by counter-terrorism concerns. The Indian Ocean is, President Mohamed Nasheed said in October 2010, “India’s soft-underbelly.”
“Security issues in the Indian Ocean have lately become more and more serious. We see the Mumbai attack also as an Indian ocean issue,” Nasheed said at the time.
Indian newspaper The Economic Times noted that the Maldives landed on the Indian intelligence radar after Sultan Park bomber Moosa Inas was reported to have been linked to the LeT and had travelled to Kerala before the bombings, a popular recruiting ground for the group.
Indian news portal Rediff.com has previously quoted Indian intelligence bureau sources as saying that the LeT “has nearly 1,000 operatives active in the Maldives”, and that there was no way the group’s operations “can be curbed unless there is very good intelligence sharing with the Maldives.”
The intelligence sources claimed that in the last three months “there has been an increase in LeT activites in the Maldives, and several persons from [the LeT’s] Kerala group have slipped into the country and are busy setting up operations there.”
President Mohamed Nasheed has dismissed the notion that the LeT had presence in the Maldives or was looking to establish a base – rumours that sporadically appear in the Indian media – but has acknowledged “serious” issues concerning the emergence of radical groups with some members trained in Pakistan.
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Another deadly attack was reported, this time inflicting the people of Mumbai, India. Nearly two dozen victims were killed in a blast that resulted from three explosions on Wednesday. http://bit.ly/qoMRLT
what the hell is minivan news doing. trying to prove the attack was carried by maldivans? thats the same thing president nasheed also did. he went to india and told everyone that mumbia hotel attacks in india were carried by maldivians. before that no one knew that. even the indians with their great indian intelligence never accused maldives behind attacks before nasheed portrayed maldivians as terrorists. now every attack in india seems to have a maldives link... absurd!
and why does nasheed "mathin bain jehigen" have to go n take responsibility to the attacks which were carried months before he went to india and by that time all the accusations were already made against fighters in kashmir?
wasnt he there to protect maldivian intrests? what i think is that he had a little too much of sula shiraz on his trip there.
let me tell you why he linked maldives with terrorism. it is so that he can get foreign dollars and it will be easy for him to lock up opponents in the guise of terrorism. all of this while maldivian students n patients have to struggle to get visa and will be spied upon in india.
well so much for the "hikumathu amalee" of our president
It is a matter of time before another lunatic islamic group claims responsibility for the Mumbai bombings. Who else but muslims is responsible for the killing of innocents in the world today.......so much for islam being a religion of peace!! India should take draconian action if the slightest Maldivian link is found. You will then have to send your sick to Riyadh and your students to Abbottabad
incident happnd aftr 31 months as said by p. chidambaram it means he was waitin for somethng to happen..............we are paying taxes so they are gettin salaries .................
there should be zero tolerance for terrorism....................
Me. I feel I might be preaching to the choir but let me sum up what you have implied.
- The "President" implies what he implies at the direction of the US/UK/EU/UN mafia to either let their forces or their buddies in India take over patrolling our waters and providing our security.
- Minivan News and MNBC continues to publish these stories under the direction of their paymasters. Nothing new, Qayyoom funded his own propaganda paper so Anni does the same.
- The MDP government came to power mainly by insinuating that Qayyoom was developing close links with China. Articles which prove this FACT are abundant on the internet. Do your research. This threat, whether phantom or real, keeps the Indians safely in the MDP's pocket.
Maldives is closely connected to terrorism and is a breeding ground for it. Despite our small population Maldivians have participated in many of the major terrorist incidents that rocked the world. We had Maldivians in Guantanamo Bay, we had a Maldivian in the attack on Mecca some years back and we have several Maldivians fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan. More than 90% of Maldivians support terrorists and justify terrorism.