|
Mumbai Terrorist Attack
Pakistan hand in Mumbai blasts
July 14, 2006
Pakistan is suspected of involvement in Tuesday's bomb attacks on trains in Mumbai, according to Indian government sources.
Investigators are searching for two men - Zabiuddin and Mohammad Faiyaz – believed to be the masterminds in the attacks.
Security agencies have been on the lookout for them for the past few months for their involvement in the RDX haul in Aurangabad in May as well as the RDX blast in Ahmedabad in February.
The third suspect Rahil, an expert in forging passports was said to be running a travel agency on Grant Road in Mumbai. He is also suspected to be closely linked to Agam Chima, who is an LeT operative in Pakistan.
According to the Gujarat ATS has said that the Mumbai blasts were carried out with explosives from that RDX consignment.
Police are also probing phone calls made to Karachi and Dubai minutes before and after seven attacks on commuter trains, which killed 179 people and injured 772 others during the evening rush hour.
Separately, the banned Students Islamic Movement of India or SIMI, one of several groups suspected in the attacks, denied responsibility.
In their search for the bombers, Mumbai police have made sketches of three suspects seen at the Churchgate area from eyewitness accounts.
A search is on for three other men in Buldhana district and the Crime Branch is searching hotels and guesthouses in Mumbai.
The probe so far has revealed that all bombs were placed in the luggage racks of the compartments and timers were used to trigger them. Police feel that gelatine and timers could have been used.
Investigators also recovered rexene bags and nails from scene of attack.
Two suspects named over Mumbai bombings
July 14, 2006
Two prime suspects involved in Tuesday's train bombings that killed at least 200 people and injured 700 were named yesterday by authorities.
The government released photos of two young, lightly bearded men, identified as Sayyad Zabiuddin and Zulfeqar Fayyaz. No other information was provided.
Officials said the prime suspect in the bombings is Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan and operating in Kashmir, the Himalayan region at the centre of the long-running India-Pakistan conflict.
Lashkar has in the past employed near-simultaneous explosions to hit Indian cities, including an attack in New Delhi in October that killed more than 60 people. Lashkar was also named in a attack on India's parliament in 2001.
Abdullah Ghaznavi, a spokesman for Lashkar, has denied the group was involved in the Mumbai bombings.
However, a man claiming to represent al Qaeda yesterday said it had set up a wing in Kashmir. He made the claim in a telephone call to Kashmir's Current News Service.
The developments came a day after police staged raids across this city and detained 350 people for questioning, most of them in Malwani, a north-eastern suburb of Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. No arrests were made.
Meanwhile, the Indian Foreign Ministry demanded that neighbouring rival Pakistan dismantle all terrorist networks on land it controls but fell short of directly accusing it of the attacks.
In an interview with Associated Press in Washington, Pakistan's Foreign Minister dismissed suggestions that his country bore responsibility for the attacks.
Anti-Terrorism Squad detains 200 blast suspects across Maharashtra
July 14, 2006
At least 200 people, mostly SIMI activists, have been detained from Mumbai and various parts of Maharashtra by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for questioning in connection with Tuesday's serial bomb blasts in the city.
In an overnight drive by city police, railway stations, lodges and hotels were searched and suspected activists of Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) rounded up from their homes, sources said adding that the detained people would be interrogated to collect clues regarding the blasts.
Sources in DGP's office said that similar searches were conducted at hotels and lodges and activists of the Islamic student body rounded up in various parts of Marathwada and Konkan regions, traditional SIMI strongholds.
Over 200 people died in seven blasts that ripped off first class compartment of western railway suburban trains on Tuesday evening, leaving more that 750 injured.
Police suspect that the bombs were placed in leather bags and kept in luggage racks, and went off in a span of 20 minutes.
350 detained over Bombay train blasts
July 13, 2006
Indian police have detained about 350 people for questioning in connection with the Bombay train bombings, officials said Thursday, amid suspicion that Kashmiri militants could be linked to the attacks that killed at least 200 people.
Most of the detentions were made overnight in Malwani, a northeastern suburb of Bombay, said police Inspector S. Goshal. He said nobody has been formally arrested or charged, and the detainees were rounded up only for questioning to help with the investigations into Tuesday's bombings.
Bombay police Commissioner A.N. Roy confirmed a large number of arrests had been made but refused to give an exact figure.
Meanwhile, an Indian Foreign Ministry official demanded that Pakistan dismantle all terrorist networks on land it controls - but fell short of directly accusing India's nuclear-armed rival for the attacks. Pakistan's foreign minister denied his country bore responsibility.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh highlighted the achievements of this city of 16 million, which staggered back to life despite the attacks on the commuter train network.
Eight bombs ripped through packed trains at rush hour, stunning a city that sees itself as the embodiment of India's global ambitions, where the country's business community and entertainment world come together. The number of dead has risen steadily as rescuers found more bodies and people died of their injuries.
Investigators picked through the mangled ruins of train cars, placing evidence in blue plastic bags beneath an overcast monsoon sky.
P.S. Pasricha, director general of police for Maharashtra state, earlier dismissed Indian media reports that the powerful explosive RDX was used in the attack, saying investigators were awaiting the results of forensic tests.
Pasricha said investigators were looking into a possible link with Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a Kashmiri militant group that has denied playing a role in the bombings.
Mumbai police suspects Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) in train blasts
July 13, 2006
The Mumbai police said Thursday they have found a strong Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) link in Tuesday's train blasts that killed 183 people and injured hundreds more.
"Evidence suggests the LeT has a strong link with the blasts," said K.V. Raghuvanshi, joint commissioner of police (Anti-Terrorist Squad - ATS).
"In January the ATS had unearthed Lashker's efforts to rebuild its terror network in Mumbai. The matter came to light with the arrest of three Kashmiri men with LeT links and a cleric," he added.
According to him, the Mumbai module was set up four years ago with the coming together of the LeT and local activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
He said police were also exploring whether there were any links between the 43 kg of RDX seized from Marathwada and north Maharashtra in the past few months and Tuesday's blasts.
"It is possible that more RDX could still be hidden in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra. This may have been used in Tuesday's blasts," Raghuvanshi added.
At the same time, he admitted it "is not always possible" for security agencies to pin down the terror outfits.
"We may have had intelligence inputs on terror targets, but it is not always possible to pin down the outfits or learn the exact nature of their plans. Sometimes we are successful, at other times we are not," he said.
Mumbai police Crime Branch officials said the terrorists had loaded the explosive devices on the trains at the Churchgate station and had alighted from the trains soon after.
"We are pretty sure that the explosive devices were loaded at Churchgate. They had done their homework well and were well conversant with train timetables. After planting the devices they got off the trains at stations immediately after Churchgate," said a Crime Branch officer.
The official, however, rued that the bomb detection squad lost precious evidence Tuesday as it failed to reach the blast sites quickly enough and also because of the showers following the blasts. Enditem
Investigation underway into Mumbai train attacks
July 12, 2006
Indian investigators Wednesday were probing for clues among the twisted wreckage of train carriages to find out who may have launched the Mumbai attacks that killed at least 190 people a day earlier.
Bomb squads and police with dogs have spent the night combing the wrecked carriages searching for clues. Police have also carried out raids in the financial capital and surrounding areas, bringing suspects in for questioning, but no arrests have been made so far.
Medical teams worked throughout the night to treat the injured, but many anxious relatives are still making their way from hospital to hospital searching for loved ones. Train services in the city are almost back to full operation -- even the Western line, the target of the attacks, is creeping back to normal.
Suspicion quickly fell on Kashmiri militants after the blasts struck seven trains within minutes of each other on Tuesday.
But other Indian officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that it was too early to point fingers at a specific group.
One former senior intelligence official, Ajit Doval, said the blasts were too sophisticated for the Kashmiri groups to have carried out on their own.
"This is the work of groups which are targeting India as a whole and are not Kashmir specific and are pursuing the larger jihadi agenda," said Doval, who maintains strong contacts in the intelligence community. "They are targeting countries and societies, particularly democratic ones, which they consider to be the antithesis of their version of Islam."
So far, no one has claimed responsible for the attack, and two leading Kashmiri militant groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, have denied any role in the attack. Enditem
Lashkar denies hand in Mumbai blast
July 11, 2006
The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) on Tuesday night condemned and denied involvement in Mumbai serial blasts and five grenade explosions in J&K.
While at least 60 people were killed and 200 others wounded in seven explosions in local trains in Mumbai, eight tourists were killed and more than 40 wounded in Srinagar grenade blasts.
In a telephonic statement to several media organisations, Lashkar spokesman Dr Abdullah Ghaznavi condemned in strongest terms the serial blasts both in Mumbai and Srinagar.
"These are inhuman and barbaric acts. Islam does not permit killing of an innocent person," he added.
Dr Ghaznavi said those who have perpetrated such "dastardly acts" were "enemies of humanity".
"Blaming the Lashkar-e-Toiba for such inhuman acts is an attempt by the Indian security agencies to defame the freedom struggle in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.
The LeT spokesman also termed as "false and full of lies" the claim by the J&K Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) that they have arrested one Lashkar militant responsible for the grenade attacks on the tourists in Srinagar.
"The Lashkar has no association with the arrested person. We totally disown him," he added.
"We have launched jehad against the Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir... We do not believe in killing innocent civilians belonging to any part of the world," the Lashkar spokesman said.
Terrorist train blasts kill at least 170 in Mumbai
July 11, 2006
A series of seven explosions killed at least 170 people on crowded commuter trains and stations in the evening rush hour in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai Tuesday.
Officials said more than 380 people were injured in the blasts in the city's western suburbs as commuters made their way home. All seven blasts came within an 11-minute span, between 6:24 and 6:35 p.m.
Witnesses reported body parts littering the railway tracks. TV news channels broadcast footage of bystanders carrying victims in driving rain to ambulances and searching through the wreckage for survivors and bodies. Confusion and panic was compounded when the local mobile phone network collapsed.
One person was arrested in New Delhi in police raids after the explosions, but there's been no claim of responsibility for the attacks.
Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, held an emergency cabinet meeting and said afterwards that "terrorists" were behind the attacks. "I reiterate our commitment to fighting terror in all its forms," he said in a written statement.
U.S. officials said suspicion fell on two Islamic terrorist groups whose focus has been on the disputed territory of Kashmir -- Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The financial capital suffered similar serial blasts in 1993 that included an attack on the stock exchange, killing more than 250 people in what was then the worst terrorist attack in history. Enditem
|
|
|
|
|
News
Channels: India News | Kerala - Malayalam News | Malayalam Movie News | Tamilnadu - Tamil News | Karnataka
- Kannada News | Andhra Pradesh - Telugu News | More Indian News | World News | Latest Sports News
Cricket:
[Cricket
Home] [India
vs Australia] [India
vs Bangladesh] [India
vs England] [India
vs Newzealand]
[India
vs Pakistan] [India
vs Sri Lanka] [India vs South
Africa] [India
vs West Indies] [India vs Zimbabwe] [World
XI's Matches] [Pakistan
Cricket Site] [Live Cricket Telecast] [BCCI]
