Mumbai blast toll climbs to 200 but fail to claim spirit

New Delhi – Tuesday's bomb blasts in Mumbai, which are reminiscent of the 2004 Madrid and 2005 London attacks, in all of which, commuters were targeted, have claimed up to 200 lives but have failed to dampen the indomitable spirit of the people.

In what is called a well–orchestrated attack, bombs of high–intensity went off almost simultaneously at railway stations and on trains in India's financial capital on Tuesday late evening, claiming up to 200 lives and injuring over 800.

Tuesday's attacks, targeted at Mumbai's suburban rail system, which is considered the city's lifeline, reminded the people of the series of bomb blasts in 1993 that killed over 250 people.

However, the latest attack on innocent civilians has failed to dampen the spirit of the people who have seen similar attacks in 2002 and 2003.

In a rare show of communal harmony, Indian Muslims were seen queuing for hours on Wednesday to give blood to their Hindu neighbours wounded in the bomb blasts.

"We don’t care whether it's a Hindu or a Muslim who gets our blood as long as we can save them," said Abdul Khan, one of dozens of Muslim men waiting in line at the blood bank at Siddarth Hospital, near one blast site at Jogeshwari station.

"People are trying to break our harmony but they have failed," said Pasha Mian Sheikh, throwing open the doors of the Islamia Arabia Mosque, metres from the tracks near the suburb of Jogeshwari, to offer shelter, food and water to the walking wounded.

"Hundreds of Muslims showed a lot of courage and harmony when they helped out their Hindu brothers. Hindus and Muslims are together in Mumbai," he said.

Leaders of India's hardline Hindu Shiv Sena party said they had been overwhelmed by the Muslim response.

"Hindus and Muslims walked hand in hand," said Manohar Kargaonkar, a Shiv Sena official. "When you read a newspaper you always find that a Muslim terrorist is behind subversive activity. But these people have shown what brotherhood is."

According to analysts and community leaders, weariness after decades of conflict as well as rising prosperity from the country's booming economy have helped cool tempers between Hindus and Muslims.

Mumbai has a long history of rioting between the two communities. Past attacks were usually blamed on Muslim groups trying to avenge Muslim deaths in widespread religious rioting after Hindu zealots demolished a 16th century mosque in northern India in 1992.

"We are getting increasing reports of Hindu–Muslim harmony from Mumbai this year unlike the earlier times," said Maulana Jalaluddin Umri, a top Islamic cleric based in Delhi. "They have realized terrorists belong to one community or the other, but what people have learnt is not to give in to terror tactics."

Bomb victims recovering at Mumbai's hospitals say they did not worry about the religion of those who donated blood.

"We will never give in to communal violence," said Lata Sirsha, who was injured on head and legs.

"This is the real Mumbai which cannot be defeated," Sirsha said, pointing out of the hospital window to the life that went on as normal in the city with suburban trains packed with commuters during the morning rush hour as thousands of people made their way to their workplaces.

"Either today or tomorrow, day after, you have to step out…nothing really stops Bombay," said one commuter.

"Life has to go on...," said another.

The Indian Railways has announced Rs. 5 lakh as compensation to the kin of the dead while the Maharashtra government has announced Rs. 1 lakh. The expenditure on treating the injured will be borne by the state government.

The city saw a spate of VIP visitors on Tuesday night, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Home Minister Shivraj Patil. Leader of Opposition LK Advani visited Bhabha Hospital and sites where blasts occurred on Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, Indian security agencies claimed to have found leads relating to the blasts.

While the magnitude of the sychronised blasts has conclusively pointed to the use of RDX by the attackers, investigators say that Islamic militant group, Lashkar–e–Toiba (LeT) and radical outfit, Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) are prime suspects.

According to forensic experts, the bombs were set off using timer devices, considering all the seven blasts took place within a span of 11 minutes.

In the last two months, several modules of LeT and SIMI have been busted and huge amount of explosive materials, including RDX, recovered during raids at various places in Aurangabad, Nasik and Nagpur, investigators said.

In the largest haul of RDX in Maharashtra in over a decade, 30 kilos of the deadly explosive concealed in computer CPUs was recovered, along with 10 AK–47 rifles, and a large cache of ammunition.

During investigations, it also came to light that similar modules of LeT were actively operating in several towns of Maharashtra, besides Hyderabad and Bangalore.

P.S. Pasricha, director–general of police in Maharashtra, said explosives and weapons seized in recent months had indicated that the thriving financial capital was a potential terrorist target.

"The country is on the path to progress…so naturally some anti–national elements would not be very comfortable with that…They would like to play that kind of mischief to see that our progress is hampered, and the fear psychosis is created to stop investments," Pasricha said.

Pasricha said the coordinated explosions were in the style of LeT which is active in India–occupied Kashmir. The group has been blamed in the past for carrying out near–simultaneous explosions in cities including the capital, New Delhi.

However, LeT and another Muslim militant outfit, the Hizb–ul–Mujhaideen, have strongly denied any role in Tuesday's blasts.

"These are inhuman and barbaric acts. Islam does not permit the killing of innocent people," a man who identified himself as "Doctor Ghaznavi," spokesman, LeT said.

"Blaming LeT for such inhuman acts is an attempt by the Indian security agencies to defame Kashmiri mujahideens," he said in telephone calls made to newspaper offices in Srinagar.

Another terrorist group, Hizb–ul–Mujahideen, denounced the bomb attacks as "outrageous," saying it abhorred the killing of civilians.

"Attacks on civilians are not part of our manifesto. We never carried out such attacks nor will allow anyone to do so," the group's spokesman, Ehsan Elahi, said in Islamabad.

The attacks have drawn condemnation from around the world, and Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said terrorists were behind the bombings, which he called "shocking and cowardly," but declined to speculate on who might be responsible.

Neighbouring Pakistan called the attacks a "despicable act."

US President George W. Bush said the train attacks would bolster the world's resolve to battle terrorism.

A chronology of the recent attacks on the city of Mumbai:

March 12, 1993: A series of bomb blasts ripped through 13 places in the city, killing 257 people and injuring 713. These were the first blasts in which RDX was used and the explosions were allegedly planned by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

December 2, 2002: Two persons were killed and 31 injured when a powerful bomb exploded in a municipal bus outside Ghatkopar suburban railway station.

December 6, 2002: Twenty–five people were injured when a bomb exploded in a food plaza at Bombay Central railway station. The bomb was planted in an air–conditioning duct.

January 27, 2003: Thirty people were injured when a crude bomb planted in a bicycle exploded at a shopping complex outside Vile Parle railway station.

March 13, 2003: Eleven people were killed and 65 injured when a powerful bomb exploded in a 'ladies special' train when it was entering Mulund railway station in the peak hours.

August 25, 2003: Two blasts occurred one after the other at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar, killing 46 people and injuring more than 160. RDX was planted in taxis parked at both these places.