RedStratocas
11-07-2006, 02:36 PM
BOMBAY, India - Seven explosions hit Bombay's commuter rail network during rush hour Tuesday evening, killing as many as 100 people, the city's police chief said. Chaos engulfed the crowded rail network in India's financial capital following the blasts that ripped apart train compartments.
Doors and windows were blown off the train cars, and luggage and debris were strewn about.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for what appeared to be bombings, but the blasts came in quick succession — a common tactic employed by Kashmiri militants that have repeatedly targeted India's cities.
Police Chief A.N. Roy said 20 bodies had been taken to hospitals, but "there are more casualty reports coming in."
Indian television broadcast video of badly injured people sprawled on tracks and being carried to ambulances. Witnesses reported seeing bodies parts strewn about the stations.
Some of the injured frantically dialed their cell phones.
Pranay Prabhakar, the spokesman for the Western Railway, confirmed that seven blasts had taken place. He said all trains had been suspended and appealed to the public to stay away from train stations in the city.
The first explosion hit the train at a railway station in the northwestern suburb of Khar, said a police officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
India's CNN-IBN television news, which had a reporter traveling on the train, said the blast took place in a first-class car as the train was moving, ripping through the compartment and killing more than a dozen people.
Another CNN-IBN reporter said he had seen more than 20 bodies at one Bombay hospital.
The Press Trust of India, citing railway officials, said all the blasts had hit first-class cars.
All of India's major cities were reportedly on high alert following the attacks, which came hours after a series of grenade attacks by Islamic extremists killed eight people in the main city of India's part of
Kashmir.
Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan in war after they gained independence from Britain in 1947, and they fought another full-scale conflict over the region in 1965.
But even as the two nuclear rivals have talked peace in the past two years, New Delhi has continued to accuse Pakistan of training, arming and funding the militants. Islamabad insists it only offers the rebels diplomatic and moral support.
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Not far after the 7/7 aniversery, so strange. I hope that the death count doesnt get higher.
Doors and windows were blown off the train cars, and luggage and debris were strewn about.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for what appeared to be bombings, but the blasts came in quick succession — a common tactic employed by Kashmiri militants that have repeatedly targeted India's cities.
Police Chief A.N. Roy said 20 bodies had been taken to hospitals, but "there are more casualty reports coming in."
Indian television broadcast video of badly injured people sprawled on tracks and being carried to ambulances. Witnesses reported seeing bodies parts strewn about the stations.
Some of the injured frantically dialed their cell phones.
Pranay Prabhakar, the spokesman for the Western Railway, confirmed that seven blasts had taken place. He said all trains had been suspended and appealed to the public to stay away from train stations in the city.
The first explosion hit the train at a railway station in the northwestern suburb of Khar, said a police officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
India's CNN-IBN television news, which had a reporter traveling on the train, said the blast took place in a first-class car as the train was moving, ripping through the compartment and killing more than a dozen people.
Another CNN-IBN reporter said he had seen more than 20 bodies at one Bombay hospital.
The Press Trust of India, citing railway officials, said all the blasts had hit first-class cars.
All of India's major cities were reportedly on high alert following the attacks, which came hours after a series of grenade attacks by Islamic extremists killed eight people in the main city of India's part of
Kashmir.
Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan in war after they gained independence from Britain in 1947, and they fought another full-scale conflict over the region in 1965.
But even as the two nuclear rivals have talked peace in the past two years, New Delhi has continued to accuse Pakistan of training, arming and funding the militants. Islamabad insists it only offers the rebels diplomatic and moral support.
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Not far after the 7/7 aniversery, so strange. I hope that the death count doesnt get higher.