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REGION: Asia-Pacific
TOPIC: Terrorism
Online NewsHour
UPDATE Posted: July 12, 2006, 1:20 PM ET   

Indian Officials Investigate Train Bombings

Millions of commuters in India's financial capital Mumbai (formerly Bombay) returned to the train system Wednesday, a day after coordinated bombs killed at least 200 people and injured 700 others on trains and at stations around the city.
A bombing survivor

The attacks, which Indian officials said targeted the country's financial market, failed to stymie economic growth for the day with the stock market rising 3 percent on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

"This is not the first time that the enemies of our nation have tried to undermine our peace and prosperity," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a televised address.

"The wheels of our economy will move on," he added.

In the wake of the attacks, India has demanded that Pakistan crack down on militants, who Indian officials believe are trained, funded and armed in the Pakistan-controlled part of disputed Kashmir.

Investigators are looking into the Kashmiri militant group Kashkar-e-Tayyaba as having possible links to the attacks, the AP reported. The group has denied carrying out the bombings.

"We would urge Pakistan to take urgent steps to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on the territory under its control and act resolutely against individuals and groups who are responsible for terrorists' violence," Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said, according to the AP.

Pakistan denies supporting Kashmiri terrorists in ways other than diplomatic and moral and has condemned the attacks.

The death toll from Tuesday's rush hour attacks, which occurred 11 minutes apart, rose steadily Wednesday as rescue workers dug through the wreckage and as many of the injured died from their wounds, Reuters reported.

The bombings marked the worst attack on the city since 1993 when 250 people died in a series of explosions in Mumbai.

The attacks also mimicked similar commuter bombings in Madrid in 2004 and in London in 2005.

"In my view the Mumbai bombers could have been inspired by the London and Madrid attacks," Peter Lehr, at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at Britain's St. Andrews University, told Reuters.

Relatives of the killed and wounded spent Wednesday searching hospitals and morgues for their loved ones.

"We have gone to four hospitals, he would have called by now," one woman said as she searched for her 24-year-old son, the AP reported. "I'm just very scared what happened to him," she said.

Also Wednesday, in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, Islamic militants wounded five Indian tourists in a grenade attack. The killings followed the deaths of eight people Tuesday also by grenades in Srinagar, Indian-Kashmir's main city, the AP reported.


---- Compiled from wire reports and other media sources

ONLINE NEWSHOUR LINKS

July 11, 2006
Bombs Hit Commuter Trains in India, Killing More Than 100


October 31, 2005
In-depth coverage: India-Pakistan Dispute




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