Mumbai Explosions: Death Toll Rises

NEW DELHI -- The death toll from this week's bombings in India's financial capital rose to 19 as Mumbai police continued Saturday to systematically sift through the evidence gathered from the site of the three blasts.

A police official said teams of investigators had fanned out to at least three different cities in the country to probe the existence of terrorist outfits that may have links to the bombings.

The death toll in the blasts climbed to 19 when two injured men succumbed to their wounds, another police official said Saturday.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

More than 100 people were still in hospitals in Mumbai being treated for wounds sustained when the bombs went off Wednesday evening.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings, and investigators have not named any suspects.

The teams of investigators were questioning suspected members of militant organizations in the southern cities of Bangalore and Hyderabad and the eastern cities of Ranchi and Kolkata, one of the police officials said.

Investigators say the attack bore the hallmarks of the Indian Mujahideen, an Islamic militant group linked to Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba that has claimed past terrorist attacks that used similar explosives.

The blasts were the deadliest terrorist attack in Mumbai since a 2008 siege in which 166 people were killed in an assault that lasted three days.

Intelligence agencies were also examining Mumbai's criminal underworld, said Prithviraj Chavan, the top elected official in Maharashtra, the state of which Mumbai is the capital.

"All angles are being probed. We have set up many investigating teams, including one to probe if the underworld had a hand in the blasts," Chavan said Saturday.

Mumbai's criminal gangs are headed by India's most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim, the alleged mastermind behind bombings in Mumbai in 1993 that killed 257 people.

Ibrahim fled Mumbai and police now believe he lives in Karachi in Pakistan.

Pakistani officials deny that Ibrahim is in Karachi.

Comments

[BestGuest]

08:59 AM on 07/18/2011

Im kinda surprised there wasn't even a passing mention of Naxalites, nor Hindu extremists......

There have been episodes of Hindu extremist groups carrying out such atrocities and making them look like the handiwork of the world's favorite whipping boys....

[MIKEinNYC]

05:53 PM on 07/17/2011

Hard to believe. Another terrorist explosion atrocity perpetrated by muslims. Besides terrorism and felafel did they ever invent anything else?

[Freenation]

08:14 PM on 07/17/2011

Since your bigoted statement went through I will make it easier...when are the Jews planning the next economic crash?

[Sisseline]

10:36 PM on 07/17/2011

You're off the subject!

[ArthroughpadNY]

01:32 AM on 07/18/2011

When you get a job.

[chickenflu4]

09:52 PM on 07/17/2011

it's falafal! they are damn tasty! i kinda like lebanese and turkish food but hate extremists!

[Tenjikuronin]

04:47 PM on 07/17/2011

^Completely unrelated to the article.

[Sisseline]

10:49 PM on 07/17/2011

Funny thing kmcc895370
I never had a problem communicating with the Indians or the Philippines for that matter, be it on behalf of Dell, Norton or my bank. All it takes is: "Pick up your ears!" and if you don't understand the response, just say so or ask them to send you an e-mail with clarification. Maybe you should learn how to use the ‘live-chat’.
When I had a major problem with Dell that couldn't be solved during the live chat, I was asked for my phone number and asked when would be a good time for me, and promised that an expert or a supervisor would call me the next day. Guess what? Problem solved! The most impressive thing, was that I was called again a couple of times to make sure that I had no further issues.

Aside from that, your post has nothing to do with this thread.

[Blind WatchMan]

10:16 AM on 07/17/2011

If it was the Indian Mujahideen, they would have claimed credit days ago. Still no word.

[wendynyc]

09:35 AM on 07/17/2011

Just for people that do not know that Hinduism is rooted in Vedanta and is one of the oldest civilizations that existed in the region. It stretched from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea ie Israel in the West to Indonesia in the East. There was a commonality in the cultures and beliefs of all these people. Christianity and Islam developed much later. Aggressive conversions in both these religions changed the landscape of societies in the region! But Hindusism in it's original form has survived this onslaught through the centuries because of it's flexibility and tolerance.
Kindly get your facts in order!

[Sisseline]

10:56 PM on 07/17/2011

I'm with you!
Surprise, surprise!
According to the article, it’s possible that Mumbai’s criminal gangs are involved.
‘Mumbai's criminal gangs are headed by India's most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim, the alleged mastermind behind bombings in Mumbai in 1993 that killed 257 people.
Ibrahim fled Mumbai and police now believe he lives in Karachi in Pakistan.
Pakistani officials deny that Ibrahim is in Karachi.’
Why is that not a surprise?
Fanned

[toticalling]

06:59 AM on 07/17/2011

Police arrested one man Usmani, but as it happens in India that man is dead; some say police beta up him to death. Police said the postmortem will ascertain the exact cause of Usmani's death. Usmani's wife Rubaida said, "When the police came to take him, they said that they will just interrogate him. He had gone alone. So we don't know what the police questioned him about. I don't know to what extent he was tortured, that he got so tensed. They came back in an hour saying he was unwell, he had vomited and was admitted to Sion Hospital."

[Yasser Yousufi]

03:13 AM on 07/17/2011

Hmm....a nice bunch of just old fashioned Islamophobes and Indians on this blog. Let me enlighten you a bit. Muslims rebelling against Indian Government is just one part of the story. The media keeps away all those 'not so good' news about India because they only want to report muslims in those kind of stories.

The fact is, there are dozens of active insurgencies going on in India. There are Bodos, Naxallites, Maoists, Nagas, Sikhs rebelling against the policies of small minded North and Central Indian upper class Hindus in 17 of the 20 something provinces of India. These people are Christians, Buddhists, Communists and Sikhs. All of them use similar tactics of sabotage, bombings, kidnappings (which if done by muslims, would be called terrorism). Hindus throughout their History have never ruled such a vast strip of land single handedly. Their inept small minded leadership made sure to discrminate against every minority other than the upper class hindu hence this current state of affairs just 60 years after independence.

[NeutralLight]

04:12 AM on 07/17/2011

"Hindus throughout their History have never ruled such a vast strip of land single handedly"

"Hindus" don't "rule" India single-handedly, except in the sense that they are the largest religious group in a full democracy and are therefore proportinately represented. Have you forgotten former president and chief-of-staff Abdul Kalam (Muslim), PM Manmohan Singh (Sikh), former Minister of Defence Fernandes (Christian), regional commander Lt General Jacob (Jewish), The Tata industrialists and philanthropists (Parsee), just to name a few famous powerful non-Hindus?

Yes, I concede that the upper-class in India is composed maily of upper-class people, and I support you in protesting categorical knee-jerk Islam-bashing, in South Asia or anywhere, but you are wrong if you imagine that India is a "Hindu State" in the sense that Pakistan in an "Islamic State". I think you are projecting some, or maybe indoctrinated.

[Yasser Yousufi]

11:15 AM on 07/17/2011

Neutrallight,

One has to give credit where it is due and I have no disagreement with you on India being a vibrant democracy which has had representation from all of its various religions. Thats what has kept India together this far. Although I would add that muslims are far under represented in the assemblies of India.

But democracy alone is not enough. If you do not provide justice you are going against the very principles of democracy. Muslims in India believe there is no justice for them in India. When the earlier bombings in Mumbai happened India had the draconian TADA act that only targeted Muslims. Hundreds of Muslims were put in jail on flimsy evidence. Yet when the Gujarat pogroms happened under a powerful Hindu Fundamentalist CM where 2000 (mainly Muslim) people lost their lives, rape was used as a tactic to humiliate and terrorize Muslims, shops belonging to Muslims were selectively burnt and despite glaring evidence pointing towards Narendar Modi nothing happened. In fact he is being touted as a future Indian PM. The Sikhs have similar grievances. The Christians have had their churches burnt for converting dalits (untouchables) to Christianity with impunity. Its these kinds of acts by the majority that eventually results in the break up, hence my reference to various rebellions. What other reason do you think there is for that?

[karta]

07:23 AM on 07/17/2011

That's absolutely rubbish Jihadist drivel.

Assuming that the electronic voting machines that they now use in India aren't being rigged (by the ruling Congress party), India is a democracy with a SIKH prime minister (who is politically controlled by the Congress party's chief, Sonia Gandhi, who is an Italian-born Roman Catholic who married into the Nehru family.)

'Hindus throughout their History have never ruled such a vast strip of land single handedly.'

Actually, around 600 AD, most of the Indian subcontinent (incl. Afghanistan to the west) and South-East Asia (used to be called Indochina) were Hindu and Buddhist lands. Even significant portions of East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, etc, were Buddhist.

If you're a Pakistani (as you appear to be), then your own ancestors until sometime before or after 1000 AD were likely Hindus, and so by trashing Hindus and Hinduism, you're insulting your own ancestors.

[Maija Dravnieks]

03:00 AM on 07/17/2011

What good does doing that make? Firecrackers and smoke bombs for same wiz reactions, to put yourself at risk, much less people walking past is a shame to yourselves. Hurting or making damage does not add to you,it costs more than anything is worth. There is a better way to get your point or concerns across. My theory is if people "get" the ones who ask to hurt or cause damage, it stops,they could do it to you. Sympathy to you for that. Just stop doing that. ~ Maija from Detroit

[fenian2001]

02:18 AM on 07/17/2011

religion of peace at it again......

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

02:40 AM on 07/17/2011

Thank god.

[Ian Faus]

06:21 AM on 07/18/2011

There is no God.

[realpragmatist]

01:52 AM on 07/17/2011

America's modern weapons is not going to be used against the terrorists - only effectively against India, which has to rely on Russian/French/British weapons or its own native weapons programs to defend itself.
We should find some other effect way of influencing Pakistan than to give their corrupt people our tax dollars or arming their government to their teeth with the most modern weapons in the world. I know that there is no easy solution but we should endeavor to find one without stabilizing the democracy there, when China is also hostile to both us and India.

[Sisseline]

11:06 PM on 07/17/2011

I say take away the Pakistani money and give it to India.

[realpragmatist]

01:47 AM on 07/17/2011

India's military can crush Pakistan as it has done in the 4 previous wars. But the presence of our country in Afganistan and the complication that an Indian invasion of Pakistan can cause is probably a reason that the war is not happening.
With ISI determined to fight a covert war against a much more powerful country (India) through terrorism, I do not really see a solution without a war in the future. But I hope we continue to keep peace in the country by reining in Pakistan against terrorism and against ISI.

[Erewhon7]

01:00 AM on 07/17/2011

time to send a similar return package to ISI headquarters.

[Sisseline]

11:09 PM on 07/17/2011

ISI is not with us. Just look at how they covered up the fact the OBL was living in Pakistan for so long, and they knew darn well that he was there and lied to us - including telling that he was dead.
We would be better off giving that ill-spent money that Pakistan is presently receiving and give it to India.

[Danyal Lodi]

12:27 AM on 07/17/2011

This is bullshit. There is increased evidence that in fact Hindu Extremist groups are behind this attack. They have used these tactics in the past as well to instigate war with Pakistan. Unfortunately, the U.S. media does not provide the real story and is a mouth piece of war hawks. Huffington Post fails as well to report the real story.

The Samjhota Express bombing by Hindu Extremists, which killed over a 100 good will Pakistani citizens inside India. The bus was blown up. A top level Colonel of the Indian army had been indicted and the person who blew open the plot was a top level Indian police officer, who got killed, shot in the back, by his own people. He was killed during the Mumbai attacks some years back. REPEAT HE WAS SHOT IN THE BACK.

Hindu Extremists are behind these attacks. The U.S. wants to open another war front for Pakistan. Another step in the Balkanization of Pakistan.

[doublehappi]

01:25 AM on 07/18/2011

can you provide a source for your increased evidence?
what BS

[Boduognat]

03:05 PM on 07/25/2011

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Samjhauta_Express_bombings

Not so difficult.

You will find that hindu extremist attacks are pretty underreported in the Western Media, while Islamist extremism and attacks are largely "overreported" in comparison.

Which doesn't imply that I would favour either one of them, or any others whatsoever.

[FACTISFACT]

10:21 PM on 07/16/2011

If the Indian Law enforcement department was efficient and took stiff preventive measures after the last massacre then these terrorist attacks in Mumbai would not take place.

It is observed that all concerned departments become active after the incidents takes place but they forget that preventive measures would have saved the lives of these innocent. The enforcement department from top to bottom is more interested in collecting money than performing their duties and responsibilities.

I feel ashamed reminding the Indian Government to ask the enforcement department to adopt preventive policing against terrorist activities not the investigative policing system.

Police department avoids preventive system of policing as it is very tough but very effective that is why they prefer investigative policing, wherein after the incidents takes place they can go in their own time to do investigations and with the passage of time forget to bring the culprits to justice.

In most cases police can hood wink the public in investigative policing system?

All hallmarks are there showing this time innocents will suffer police torture in extracting confessional statements from these innocents.

[Damn Damien]

08:59 AM on 07/17/2011

India is a chaotic third-world country with limited resources. Besides, any "preventive measures" will come under vociferous criticism by those who claim that less than 1% of 1% of Muslims are extremists (as if that 1% of 1% are controlling the state apparatus of various countries, subjugating their own people, instituting Sharia, harboring terrorists, funding madrassas, supplying training and weapons, etc.).

[themodernleader]

10:09 PM on 07/16/2011

When populations become too large for the environment, nature, both human and physical, call for a thinning of the population. Without modern leadership, traditional leaders let problems become so stupendous that nature intervenes in unexpected solutions that are perceived as acts of God, twists of fate or simply the invasion of pestilence or evil.

[Erewhon7]

01:01 AM on 07/17/2011

Let's start with your house, shall we.

[themodernleader]

05:34 AM on 07/17/2011

These are only words, symbols that try to make senseout of otherwise meaningless events and conditions. Nothing more. Our kinship and friendship and eternal bond as Americans are what matters. I am your friend forever.

[realpragmatist]

01:42 AM on 07/17/2011

How can you have 788 fans and make such an irresponsible comment, Sir? Are you suggesting that this terrorism is a nature consequence of over-population? That this terrorism is simply a solution of thinning the population in democratic India?

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

02:42 AM on 07/17/2011

He's a special idiot. "Take me! Take me!" is what he should have said.
.
eh?

[themodernleader]

05:27 AM on 07/17/2011

Sir, my reasoning is sourced in a reinspected Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus, 1798, that notes that the human population tends to increase geometrically while the supply of food tends to increase arithmetically. You present a better explanation of the fragility, senselessness of sudden mayhem and death of this unstable homo-sapien population; I will grab it as my own. F & F.