Terrorist Attacks Kill at Least 200 in India

A series of eight powerful explosions struck India’s financial capital Tuesday, killing at least 200 people and wounding 714 in what authorities called a well-coordinated terrorist attack.

|PIC1|The bomb blasts hit Bombay's commuter rail network during the evening rush hour Tuesday, only hours after a series of grenade attacks by Islamic extremists killed eight people in the main city of India's part of Kashmir, according to media reports.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh convened an emergency Cabinet meeting and said that "terrorists" were behind the attacks, which he called "shocking and cowardly attempts to spread a feeling of fear and terror among our citizens."

"I condemn these shameful acts and I reiterate our commitment to fighting terror in all its forms," Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said in a statement from the prime minister.

"I urge the people to remain calm, not to believe rumours and carry on their activity normally."

As authorities struggled to treat survivors and recover the dead in the wreckage amid heavy monsoon downpours, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) also condemned the serial bomb blasts and appealed to the people to face “this hour of anguish with equanimity.”|TOP|

“We strongly denounce the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai which has caused so much of damage and created panic among the people,” CBCI Spokesperson Fr. Babu Joseph told Indian Catholic.

“The bomb blasts are the handiworks of anti-social elements. We should all join hands together to defeat the nefarious designs of the anti-social elements in the country,” Fr. Joseph added.

According The Associated Press, there was no immediate indication if suicide bombers were involved. Police inspector Ramesh Sawant said most of the victims suffered head and chest injuries, leading authorities to believe the bombs were placed in overhead luggage racks.

|AD|Tuesday’s attack comes only four days after the one-year anniversary of the London terrorist bombings that killed 52, and more than two years after the 11 March bombings in Madrid, Spain, that left 191 dead.

The blasts also struck four days after a terrorist plot to inflict death and destruction in New York’s lower Manhattan by using suicide bombers to attack train tunnels used by tens of thousands of commuters each day was thwarted before the scheme could get off the ground.

According to US federal officials, eight suspects had hoped to pull off the attack in October or November, but federal investigators working with their counterparts in six other countries intervened before the suspects could travel to the United States and become a more serious threat.

As India's major cities were put on high alert following Tuesday’s deadly bomb attacks, New York also responded by reinforcing security on the city's vast public transport network.






Joseph Alvarez
Christian Today Correspondent