At least 41 dead in Bombay blasts

[bornhyderabadi]

I condemn this dastardly act! India should go all out against terrorists. India\'s silence is being taken as its weakness.

[bornhyderabadi]

BOMBAY (AFP) - At least 41 people were killed in the twin blasts in India\'s commercial hub, Bombay. Television networks reported quoting the police.
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The CNBC-TV 18 network, quoting police, said 24 people had been declared dead at J.J. Hospital, 14 at St. George\'s Hospital and three at G.T. Hospital, all in Bombay.

[Kulcha Hyderabadi]

My heart goes out to the innocent people who lost their lives and to those who are injured. Terrorism must to be rooted out at any cost. It\'s a sad day.

[Arch]

It\'s an act of \'total cowardice\'. Shame on such \'supposed men\'! May they rot in hell. Those who are killing civilians so are inhuman that they should be caught, tried and given the rightful punishment as per our law within a certain period of time. This is an undeclared war by those cowards, the terrorists, but our government should declare it so and act on war footing.

[Arch]

We can see a part of carnage that has been created by these cowards at http://sify.com/news/imagegallery

[BBC report]

Wreckage from the market bomb was strewn over a wide area. At least 50 people have been killed after two powerful explosions struck the Indian city of Bombay, police officials told the BBC.
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Over 130 people were injured, many seriously, in the near simultaneous blasts, in the country\'s commercial capital, also known as Mumbai.
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One explosion, reportedly caused by a car bomb placed in a taxi, happened at the Gateway of India, the city\'s top tourist attraction, police say.
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The other explosion, also a car bomb, took place in a busy jewellery market near the Mumba Devi Temple in central Bombay.
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Witnesses described scenes of chaos as the blasts shook buildings, leaving mangled cars and trails of blood and glass strewn across the city\'s streets.
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Telephone lines were jammed as panicked residents called family and friends.
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No organisation has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, which took place during the lunch period and just five minutes apart.
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The BBC\'s correspondent in Bombay, Sanjiv Srivastava, said that the force of the blast near the Gateway of India threw a number of people into the sea.
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The taxi containing that bomb had been parked outside the Taj Mahal Hotel, one of the city\'s oldest luxury hotels, where windows were shattered and cars damaged.
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Witnesses said survivors ran for cover after the blast, which left trails of blood in front of the Gateway of India, a colonial arch built by the sea and one of India\'s most famous landmarks.
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Ambulances raced across the city and appeals went out for volunteers to make emergency blood donations.
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There were scenes of even worse carnage at the city\'s Zaveri Bazaar gold market, where the bomb exploded in front of a multi-storied building containing shops on the ground floor and flats above.
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\"You can\'t imagine what I saw. Bodies strewn around. I was in my flat when I heard a deafening sound. The building shook from its foundation\", local resident Prashant Zaveri told the BBC.
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\"I joined the neighbours. We put people inside cars, carts, whatever we could find and sent the injured to hospitals\", he added.
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Our correspondent Zubair Ahmed said pieces of broken glass, blood stains and smashed cars and shops could be seen in a 100 metre (yards) radius from the spot where the blast had taken place.
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\"There were legs and hands lying on top and inside my taxi\", a local cab driver, whose clothes were covered in blood, told Reuters news agency. \"I had a miraculous escape.\"
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The Indian Government said it is not yet known who carried out the attacks, although it has been hinted that outlawed student Islamic groups could be involved.
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Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani said that the Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi), acting with the support of Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba, was to blame for a string of other attacks in Bombay in recent months.
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\"Earlier these blasts were in buses and in almost all cases the organisation involved has been Simi and acting in conjunction with Lashkar e-Toiba\", Mr Advani said.

[junk]

It\'s SHOCKING!!! There have been a series of bomb blasts in Bombay since the December of 2002. There\'s no security for a common man in Bombay.

[BM]

I feel pain for the innocent people who lost their lives and for those who got injured.

[an enraged Indian]

Let\'s make our government ACT at the earliest. Let us NOT allow this issue to cause communal riots, as those cowards. We have to restrain ourselves in allowing ourselves to think on those lines and see to it, I am repeating, that the government ACTS and not just make some statements and forget about it.

[Learner]

A very sad and shocking day. The guilty should be brought to justice. We must remain alert and maintain our unity and harmony, which our enemies envy.

[bornhyderabadi]

Rightly said, this is to provoke sentiments. We must stay calm and not fall for their trap. At the same time we must deal them with an iron hand.

[Doc]

Hi all,
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It is heartening to know that Bombay citizens are a brave lot.
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See, how they behaved in those tense times? All of them behaved courageously and went on with their own daily routine. Hats off to them.

[Arch]

After seeing the pictures of the dead bodies, how could you say that the Bombaites went about with their normal day to day living, DOC? THAT\'S DEMEANING THEIR PERSONALITIES AS IF THEY DO NOT HAVE ANY FEELINGS OF FEAR, ANGER, ANGUISH, SENSE OF REVENGE...

[Kulcha Hyderabadi]

Arch, I don\'t think the doctor meant that Mumbaikers don\'t feel the tragedy. Nope, what he probably means is despite the great tragedy, Mumbaikers went about their daily lives showing the world that they are a brave lot. But, the authorities must not rest until they bring the culprits to justice. The problem with us Indians is that we tend to forget too quickly. A week down the road, the bomb blasts become another piece of statistics. Find the guilty, punish them and set and an example for others. Finger pointing, accusing sundry, cooking up wierd consipiracy theories, etc. is not going to help us. Dig deep, find the sources of terrorism and act. About time our Politicians, and Law Enforcement Agencies walked their talk.

[Arch]

Kulcha bhayya, we forgot about the bombings! We are going about our daily routine very bravely and the terrorists must be laughing at our placid, gut-less, no-back-bone, I-care-less attitude, planning another attack elsewhere, probably killing some more innocents. Aur apne politicians? They made some comments and our media religiously printed it! And it is no more a hot topic for the readers/viewers, so ...

[Kulcha Hyderabadi]

I understand your feelings Arch - tell me, what can us citizens do about it? Take up arms? Start shooting people on suspicion, go on a killing-spree? What can we do? In a country where majority of the people struggle to earn a living, how long can they mourn such tragic events? It\'s impossible for ordinary citizens, people who have not suffered directly, to live the tragedy with the same intensity even for a day or two. The onus is on the police, the politicians and other concerned agencies to find out why these acts of madness and sheer brutality occur. They are the ones who are responsible for the welfare and safety of ordinary citizens. They are paid for it. I know, for some it\'s hard to erase the gory scenes of murder and mayhem, but, unfortunately, for the common man on the street, the daily bread for him and his family is more important than anything else.