Seven coordinated blasts in local trains running on the western line in Mumbai on Tuesday evening. All within 11 minutes. To trigger such a series of terror, the plot would have to be minutely planned and executed. And a thorough understanding of the behaviour of a regular local train commuter in Mumbai would be essential. ...
No information is as yet available on the explosives or detonators used or how the explosions were triggered off. But it is apparent from the timely managed detonations in the suburban trains last evening that the perpetrators had expert knowledge of exact trains that would actually carry the maximum number of passengers. They had obviously done a thorough study of the railway time table and meticulously chosen the seven trains that would ferry the maximum number of commuters in the evening rush hour. Hence, the three Virar bound trains were chosen besides the other trains terminating at Borivili - all soft targets.
None of the down trains coming towards Churchgate Station were targeted, as, in the evening they carry very few people to the business district situated in the South of Mumbai that has a high number of office goers commuting to and fro every day. ...
As of now, there is no reason to believe that suicide terrorists were involved. There are as yet no indicators of the likely trigger mechanism. There are only three possibilities - a mechanical timer, a chemical timer, and a mobile telephone. ...
The magnitude of the orchestrated blasts have conclusively pointed to the use of RDX by the attackers, said official sources. Police said high grade explosive material was used in the blasts, but the exact nature of the explosives was yet to be established. A forensic examination would establish what kind of explosive was used by the terrorists.
The fact that a lot of planning clearly went into choosing the maximum number of victims emphasizes how cold-blooded an attack this was. This is deliberate targeting of civilian noncombatants, with the individuals selected at random. In no way is this kind of warfare justified, no matter how just the cause for which the planners are fighting might be.
Indian officials are pointing a finger at Pakistan:
India has urged the international community to "speak in one voice" and join the battle against terrorists who killed nearly 190 people and injured hundreds in terror blasts in Mumbai and Srinagar.
"International community has to speak in one voice against terrorism. Pakistan should fully join the battle in isolating and eliminating terrorists," Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said on Wednesday a day after the savage blasts ripped apart commuter trains in Mumbai and killed eight tourists in Srinagar. ...
"When credible evidence is given to Pakistan, we would expect Pakistan to deliver on their commitment," he said while alluding to the blasts in Varanasi in March this year in which the suspects' connection was traced to militants' outfits operating from Pakistan.
Sharma also lauded the residents of Mumbai for observing "remarkable restraint and maturity" and not responding to the "provocations of terrorists" as it might have led to a backlash from the Muslim community. India is home to over 140 million Muslims - the world's second largest Muslim population after Indonesia.
Pakistan on Tuesday condemned bombings on commuter trains in the Indian city of Bombay as a 'despicable act of terrorism.' "'Pakistan strongly condemns the series of bomb blasts on commuter trains," the ministry said in a statement.
"President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz condemn this despicable act of terrorism and offer condolences for the loss of life," the statement said.
Analysts say that these similarities, as well as the sophistication of the Mumbai attack, suggests ties to international Islamic terror groups, perhaps working through a local militant outfit.
"[The attack was] well planned, orchestrated, simultaneous [and was] designed to inflict maximum loss of life. It's probably the handiwork of a well-equipped, well-funded, terrorist group that hews to the Al Qaeda school of thought," says Sajjan Gohel. "In the region, only Lashkar-e-Tayyaba has such capabilities."
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), one of more than a dozen Islamic rebel groups fighting Indian security forces in Kashmir since 1989, has been blamed by police for a number of past attacks on Indian soil, including a set of bombings in Bombay in 2003 that left 44 dead. In past years, police have uncovered a cell tied to LeT in the Bombay suburb of Thane. The group is the most sophisticated of the militant outfits fighting to wrest Kashmir from India, and it is accused of having ties to Pakistan as well as funding from outside.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry issued a statement late Tuesday condemning the attacks.
"Pakistan strongly condemns the series of bomb blasts on commuter trains," the ministry said in a statement. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf offered condolences over the loss of life, the statement said, adding "terrorism is a bane of our times and it must be condemned, rejected and countered effectively and comprehensively."
The train attacks followed an uptick in violence in Kashmir in which a series of grenade attacks by Islamic extremists killed eight people. Some initial reports speculated that the two incidents were connected, but some analysts expressed doubts that the Bombay attack was related.
The disputed province Kashmir is a major point of conflict between India and Pakistan, and a major grievance in the Muslim world generally. Human Rights Watch gave some background to the conflict in a 1999 report:
Kashmir has been at the heart of a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan since the two nations gained their independence in 1947. Both claim Kashmir. In 1948 the then-ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, who was holding out for independence, acceded to India on condition that the state retain autonomy in all matters except defense, currency and foreign affairs. The accession was provoked by the invasion of Pakistani raiders and an uprising of villagers in the western part of the state. Fighting between India and Pakistan ended with U.N. intervention; since 1948 the cease-fire line has been monitored by the U.N. Military Observer Group on India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). The far northern and western areas of the state are under Pakistan's control; the Kashmir valley, Jammu, and Ladakh are under India's control. U.N. resolutions calling for a plebiscite to determine the final status of the territory have been rejected by India, which claims that because Kashmiris have voted in national elections in India, there is no need for a plebiscite. Pakistan maintains that a plebiscite should be held.
