Mumbai Again

The attack came nearly two years and eight months after the previous terror strike on the city,the November 26,2008 attacks by 10 Lashkar-e-Toiba gunmen which killed 165 people.

It also came two days after the city marked the fifth anniversary of 7/11 when 188 people were killed in serial blasts on local trains and at railway stations during the evening rush hour.

The Centre and the state government said there was no doubt that the latest strike was also a terror attack even though the intensity was not as high as the previous two.

Although there were no immediate clues on who could be behind Wednesday’s strikes,investigators said their first suspects would be the Indian Mujahideen.

The first blast occurred at Zaveri Bazaar at 6.45 pm outside a small store,“Super Tool”,injuring its owner Tayyed Ismail.

The two-storeyed building housing the hardware store stocks equipments required for cutting diamond and moulding gold. Police said seven people were killed here and around 25-30 were injured and rushed to hospital.

The area is popularly known as “khau gali” or “nashta gali” as it is popular for its food stalls. The explosives were planted in one of the two motorbikes parked outside Super Tool.

Many local businessmen dealing in diamonds,gold and precious stones here store their valuables in safety vaults in the nearby Bank of India,Mumbadevi Chamber and Dhanroop Devaji Chamber.

According to locals,most people who work in these offices were leaving for home at the time of the blast with a majority known to live in the western suburbs.

The second explosion happened at the diamond hub of Opera House at 6.55 pm. It took place at the Diamond Merchant Association chowk,the passage that connects the area behind Panchratna building to Prasad Chambers,both commercial complexes for diamond traders.

Most of the deceased are believed to be food-stall hawkers and employees who throng the streets on their way back to deposit diamonds in the safe inside the office buildings in the evening.

A team of forensic experts and the bomb detection squad rushed to the spot but were unable to immediately track down the exact spot where the bomb was kept due to the clutter.

Joint Commissioner of Police,Law and Order,Rajneesh Seth later said that a two-foot-deep crater had formed on the road suggesting the high intensity of the bomb.

“There was a near stampede in the area after the blast as it is very crowded. Around the time of the blasts,a number of agents who work for diamond traders return to their shops to deposit their diamonds. It is quite possible that among the shattered pieces of glass,there could be diamonds that spilled on the floor,” said Agam Joshi,a local trader.

All glass windows within a 500-m radius of the epicentre of the blast were shattered. A white Maruti Wagon R in the middle of the blast site,although created suspicion initially,was later found to be that of a local and may have halted as a result of the blast,injuring the driver.

Due to the explosion,the electric cables in the passage where the blast took place,fell on the floor. The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) was also scanning garbage dumps in the area as a number of hawkers and vendors flock the area in the evening.

The third blast injured seven people at Dadar Kabutarkhana near Dr Antonio D’Silva High School and Junior College of Commerce close to the bustling Dadar station.

The junior college that closes at 6:30 pm has a lot of students going towards Dadar station around the time of the blast.

However,police officers inspecting the site said that as a result of the faulty placement of the bomb,it exploded vertically,thereby reducing the impact of the explosion.

The blast,at first believed to be caused by a bomb planted in a grey Maruti Esteem (MH 43 A 9384) parked near the bus stop,was later ascertained by the police to be caused by explosives on garbage strewn atop a bus shed next to the car.

The rear window of the car was shattered. The car was later towed away by the police and its owner Deepak Patel,an interior designer from Vashi,was taken for questioning in Dadar and later taken to the Vashi police station.

The glass panels of N Raichand Jewellers,about 10 feet from the blast site,were also shattered by the explosion.

The site was covered with tarpaulin sheets to protect the evidence from being washed away by rain. The usually teeming area wore a deserted look as shops downed their shutters early following the blasts.

Police said it was very likely that all the three blasts were set off by timers.

Sanjay Gupta,who was at a nearby hotel,said he had a lucky escape. “If the blast had taken place at 5- 5.30 p.m,my kids could have been injured as that is the time their school (Dr. Antonio School) gets over. If the incident had taken place at that time,there could have been much more damage and loss of life. After it happened,we immediately rushed to the spot to help. There was a lot of confusion there and I had to ask people to go slowly and avoid a stampede,” he said.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram ordered a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to be sent to Mumbai to join the investigation. He himself left for Mumbai tonight. Another team of forensic experts from the CFSL,Hyderabad was dispatched to Mumbai in the evening.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of senior Home Ministry officials,Chidambaram said the blasts were a “coordinated attack by terrorists”.

He said the NSG hub in Mumbai had been put on standby and that the elite force’s post-blast team had also been sent to the city.

He said a team of NIA sleuths,which was already in Mumbai in connection with another investigation,had been asked to help Mumbai Police in the investigation.

“They have been asked to associate with Mumbai Police investigation. Another NIA team led by an inspector general is also being rushed to Mumbai,” he said. “I have spoken to the Chief Minister and he is coordinating the relief and rescue operations.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the Maharashtra Chief Minister to do everything possible to provide relief to the injured and to the families of the deceased. (with inputs from New Delhi)