21 dead in three blasts, 141 injured
Mumbai: Terror struck Mumbai when three near simultaneous blasts ripped through crowded areas on Wednesday evening killing at least 21 people and injuring 141 in a grim reminder of the deadly 2008 Mumbai attack.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said 21 people had died in the back-to-back explosions which struck in a span of 14 minutes, apparently aimed at causing maximum casualties during the peak hour.
Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram said the quick succession of the blasts showed that it was a “coordinated attack by terrorists.”
All the explosions were triggered by Improvised Explosive Devices(IED), a Home Ministry official said, adding 141 were injured.
The first explosion rocked Zaveri Bazar, a popular jewellery market, at 6.50 pm and a minute later another blast shook the busy business area Opera House. A third blast ripped through crowded Dadar area in Central Mumbai at 7.04 pm.
The blast sites were splattered with blood as some bodies lay strewn around while cars and motorcyles were charred in the impact of the explosions in the country’s financial capital.
The terror strike which revived memories of the Mumbai attack that left 166 dead coincided with the 24th birthday of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving Pakistani gunman in the carnage. Kasab has been sentenced to death.
No group claimed responsibility but Mumbai police suspects the hand of Indian Mujahideen (IM). Chavan declined to speculate on who could be behind the attack.
Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik said the blasts at Opera House and Zaveri Bazaar were of a higher intensity than the one at Dadar. All the injured have suffered burn injuries.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said the blast at Opera House was the “most powerful”. He appealed to people to maintain calm and not to get swayed by rumours.
The explosions struck this metropolis two days after the fifth anniversary of the serial train blasts here that had left 186 dead and 800 injured.
While the blast in Zaveri Bazaar was triggered through explosives planted in an umbrella, the one in Dadar West was caused by an explosive device concealed in a meter box of the electric cabinet of a BEST bus stop. Preliminary reports said that the explosives were kept inside a Maruti Esteem in the Dadar blast.
The Opera House blast took place at Prasad Chamber building where a loud explosion was heard around 6.45 pm and people ran helter-skelter in blood-soaked clothes with shards of glass strewn all over the area.
The city has been put on a high alert with pickets erected at several places, city police commissioner Arup Patnaik said. (PTI)
