NEWS: Serial Blasts in Mumbai & Srinagar

Serial blasts halt Mumbai's Western Railway

July 11, 2006 19:03 IST
Last Updated: July 11, 2006 20:50 IST

Seven blasts rocked suburban trains in Mumbai on Tuesday evening, Police Commissioner A N Roy has announced. Police control has reported 63 passengers have been killed in the blasts, and 400 injured. PTI reports that the blasts took place in a span of 30 minutes in first class compartmenets of suburban trains.

As the blasts ripped apart train compartments, mangled bodies of passengers were hurled out and survivors, many of them bleeding profusely, jostled to come out, leading to chaotic scenes. The blasts occured between 6 pm and 6.30 pm at Matunga, Mahim (central Mumbai), Bandra, Khar (in north-west Mumbai), Borivili, Jogeshwari and Mira Road railway stations (in north Mumbai).

Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf, who was at Mahim railway station soon after reports of the blast came in, said he could see one train compartment was completely blown up in the explosion, and people were carrying bodies away. Commuters said an explosion went off in the men's first class compartment on a Western Railway local, which left Churgate station in South Mumbai at 1754, as it was leaving Mahim station on track 3 at around 1820 hours.

A fire brigade official who came on the scene later said he believes that more than 25 injured were removed from the bombed out compartment.

Advocate Chandrakant Dalvi, who was travelling to his home in Dahisar by this compartment, was sitting on the tracks in a daze when rediff.com's reporters met him. He said he could not hear anything in his left ear. He had already got in touch with his relatives to say he was safe, but he had not told them that he was on the train. The fire brigade personnel were sending him to the nearest hospital for a check-up. He said he would take a cab and go home.

Around the tracks seat-cushioning material was lying around, among chappals and shoes and bags. Luggage removed from the compartment was lying on the other side.

Outside the station the road had been cordoned off and two fire engines were posted. But onlookers could view the wreckage from the footbridge and the road.

Two local trains were halted on either side of the bombed train and there was a rush of people leaving the station who were hitching rides home with lorries and tempos.

TV channel CNN-IBN was reporting that atleast 15 people were killed in the Matunga/Mahim blast.

The Western Railway has suspended its suburban services soon after the blasts. Local telephone lines were jammed as panic-stricken commuters called their near and dear ones to alert them of the blasts. Commuters said there was no sign of the police even 30 minutes after the blasts.

A PTI reporter at Santa Cruz station said a blast rocked a Borivali-bound local at 1824 hours, and seven to eight injured commuters jumped out of the speeding train in panic.

At least 10 bodies were brought to the KEM Hospital in central Mumbai, and another 20 seriously injured people were admitted to it.

A few more injured were reportedly taken to the government hospital at Sion in central Mumbai, Bhabha Hospital and V N Desai Hospital from the blast sites in western Mumbai suburbs, hospital sources said.

The police have cordoned off all railway stations on the Western line and strict frisking and checking was being carried out at the Central and Harbour sections of local train services.

Police suspect that it is a pre-planned subversive plot similar to the explosions that had rocked Mumbai in 1993, 2002 and 2003.

Source: Rediff.com

6 explosions reported on trains in Mumbai, India; dozens reported injured Canadian Press

Published: Tuesday, July 11, 2006

MUMBAI, India (AP) - Six explosions rocked Mumbai's commuter rail network during Tuesday's evening rush hour, ripping apart train compartments and reportedly injuring dozens, police and the Indian media said.

Indian television news channels broadcast images of the wounded sprawled on train tracks and being carried through stations.

The Press Trust of India news agency reported six blasts along the city's commuter rail network, which is among the most crowded in the world.

Mumbai, India's financial centre, and New Delhi, the capital, were reportedly on high alert.

Source: Canada.com

thanx 4 the info vijay 50 ppl have been injured in matunga. Mumbai, Banglore and delhi are on red alert.
hope all r fine

Five blasts rock Srinagar, 6 killed

July 11, 2006 13:27 IST
Last Updated: July 11, 2006 18:27 IST

Five bomb explosions rocked Jammu and Kashmir's capital Srinagar on Tuesday, killing six people and injuring 38.

Five tourists from West Bengal were killed and 12 injured when militants lobbed a hand grenade at a minibus at Dalgate area in uptown Srinagar. Three tourists were killed on the spot while two succumbed to injuries later in the hospital.

The injured were taken to the SMHS hospital. Among the dead are three women. Attending doctors described the condition of two of the injured tourists as critical.

On May 31, two buses carrying tourists from Kolkata were attacked at the same spot, which is known as the hub of tourist activity. One tourist was killed and 18 others were wounded in the explosions.

Militants then struck in the Regal Chowk area. Six people were injured when militants hurled a hand grenade on a Maruti car, police said. The car was extensively damaged in the attack.

In the afternoon, militants lobbed a hand grenade at a passing vehicle in city centre Lal Chowk, injuring five persons. Police said, a labourer, hailing from Bihar, succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. Minutes later, another grenade explosion resulted in injuries to five persons in the adjacent Abi-Guzar area.

The last explosion was triggered off near the tourist reception centre in uptown Srinagar late this afternoon. Ten people -- seven from Jammu, two locals and a tourist from West Bengal -- were injured in the attack. In a rare instance, passers-by caught a suspected militant and handed him over to police soon after he lobbed a grenade on a vehicle near the tourist reception centre, officials said.


Mohammad Afzal, a resident of Nesbal in Baramulla district, was handed over to a police party that was patrolling the area, officials said, adding that he was later taken to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

Meanwhile, the injured have been shifted to the nearby SMHS hospital, police said, adding that so far, no militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Additional police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in Srinagar and all passing vehicles are being searched.


Source: Rediff.com

thanks for the news and now it says 100 ppl confirmed are dead....

7 train bombings in India kill up to 100 By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM, Associated Press Writer
2 minutes ago



BOMBAY, India - Seven bombs hit Bombay's commuter rail network during rush hour Tuesday evening, killing as many as 100 people and wounding 250 in what authorities called a well-coordinated attack. India's major cities were put on high alert after the blasts.

Chaos engulfed the crowded rail network in India's financial capital following the blasts that ripped apart train compartments as authorities struggled to treat the wounded amid heavy monsoon downpours.

Doors and windows were blown off the train cars, and luggage and debris were strewn across the tracks.

Police Chief A.N. Roy said on Indian television that an estimated 100 people were killed and more than 250 were wounded.

"We are busy in the rescue operation. Our first priority is to rescue the injured people," he said

Source: Yahoo http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060711/ap_on_re_as/india_train_ explosion

Series of grenade attacks hit Srinagar; at least 6 killed

Tuesday, 11 July , 2006, 16:17

Srinagar: A series of grenade attacks by terrorists in Srinagar killed at least six people and wounded more than two dozen on Tuesday.

In the first incident, terrorists tossed a grenade into a minibus carrying tourists through Srinagar, killing five and wounding 14, said a senior police officer, Farooq Ahmad.

Among the dead were four women, he said. Three of the injured were in critical condition at hospitals in the city. Blood stained the streets at the scene of the attack, which took place around noon, and shards of shattered glass and the debris of small, colourful souvenirs shattered by the explosion were scattered throughout the area.

About an hour later, three more grenade attacks hit the city in quick succession.

One targeted police patrolling a crowded shopping area, but only wounded four passengers in a car nearby, Farooq said.

Another grenade hit a four-wheel drive taxi, killing one passenger and wounding six people, including bystanders, he said. A hand grenade was also hurled at a Maruti car, injuring six.

The fifth blast took place in a small residential neighbourhood and injured five people, Farooq said.

The last explosion was triggered off near the tourist reception centre in uptown Srinagar late this afternoon, injuring seven people. Sources say the militant who hurled the grenade had been overpowered.

Source: Sify.com

PM reviews security situation after blasts

Tuesday, 11 July , 2006, 20:17

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday reviewed the security situation in the wake of the series of bomb blasts in Mumbai and Srinagar.

A specially-convened meeting at the Prime Minister's Race Course Road residence was attended by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Home Secretary V K Duggal.

The meeting is also understood to have reviewed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir where militants carried out a string of grenade attacks within the space of three hours in Srinagar, killing eight persons, including six tourists from West Bengal, and injuring 35 others.


Source: Sify.com

70 killed in Mumbai train blasts

Tuesday, July 11, 2006; Posted: 11:10 a.m. EDT (15:10 GMT)


Manage Alerts | What Is This? MUMBAI, India (CNN) -- At least 70 people have been killed in seven explosions on crowded rush-hour commuter trains in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai, police said.

Officials said more than 300 people were injured in the blasts, which took place between 6:20 and 7 p.m. (1250 and 1330 GMT) when the trains were packed with commuters making their way home.

A correspondent for CNN's sister network, CNN-IBN, reported seeing 15 bodies at the Matunga train station in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay.

Video from one station showed people with blood on them being treated, other commuters carrying victims and some people lying motionless near train tracks. (Watch rescuers pull blood-covered victims from wrecked trains -- 1:59)

At least one train was split in half by the explosion.

The Western Railway system -- used by 4.5 million people daily -- was shut down and Mumbai's subway system was put on high alert after the blasts in the city's western suburbs. Police in the capital of New Delhi also heightened security.

Airports across India were also put on high alert, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called an emergency meeting of his ministers after the explosions.

One person was arrested in New Delhi in police raids after the explosions, CNN-IBN reported, but there was no claim of responsibility for the attacks. The blasts took place in quick succession -- a tactic used by Kashmiri militants who have often targeted Indian cities.

Earlier Tuesday, a grenade attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed at least four people. Authorities believe militants are responsible for that attack on a minibus in Srinagar. There was no immediate indication of a connection to the Mumbai blasts.

The blasts hit trains or platforms at the Khar, Mahim, Matunga, Jogeshwari, Borivili and Bhayander stations, in that order. Another hit a train between the Khar and Santa Cruz stations, a police official told CNN-IBN.

One CNN-IBN correspondent who was on a train hit by an explosion said the train was just leaving the station when the blast occurred. Several people jumped from the train and were killed when they were hit by the train.

"Limbs (are) lying everywhere, bodies (were) cleared from the tracks by local business owners who rushed from their shops," the correspondent said.

On March 7, 14 people were killed in attacks on a temple and a rail station in Varansi. On March 12, 1993, more than 250 people were killed in Mumbai when 13 bombs exploded in several locations in the city.

The city's commuter rail network is among the most crowded in the world.

Source: CNN http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/07/11/mumbai.blasts/in dex.html

The situation is grim in those stations and trains which have been affected becuse of the blasts.

REST OF MUMBAI IS SAFE AND FINE.

Those who do not travel by teh Western Suburban Trains are not affected and are slowly reaching home.

Due to this disaster, the roads are blocked with traffic and the routes home are all jammed.

Mobile and Phone networks are down.