Union home minister P Chidambaram said yesterday’s serial blasts, which killed 24 and injured 131 people last evening, was not an attack on India’s commercial and financial capital.
He explained that the terrorists chose the sites — Dadar, Opera House and Zaveri Bazar — due to the density of population and the congestion in those areas.
Accompanied by state chief minister Prithviraj Chauhan, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, home minister R R Patil and minister of state for home, Satej Patil, he visited all three sites and some of the injured admitted in 13 hospitals.
Chidamabaram declined to point to involvement of any particular group. “All groups hostile to India are suspects. We are not ruling out anything,” he said. The investigating agencies have been asked not to proceed on presupposition; all those with the capacity to carry out such attacks were suspected.
Of the 131 taken to hospital yesterday, 26 were discharged and 82 reported to be in a stable conditio. However, 23 are seriously injured, some critically. Chief Minister Chavan has announced Rs 5 lakh to the kin of each of the dead and Rs 50,000 to the injured.
“After a gap of about 31 months, Mumbai has suffered another terror attack. I express my regrets. The capacity of the Maharashtra Police has been increased tremendously after 26/11 (the November 2008 terrorist attacks) and yesterday’s response shows that. The Mumbai police have neutralised a large number of terrorists during this period. Recently, the police have arrested two suspects of the Indian Mujahuddian and also members of the CPI (Maoist) in Pune. Whether the blasts were in retaliation for action taken or whether this was caused by another terrorist group will be investigated,” Chidambaram said.
The minister told reporters the preliminary assessment was that the Dadar blast was low-intensity; the other two were high-intensity. That all three took place within minutes of each other shows it was a coordinated terrorist attack. Investigators worked through the night at the sites; forensic evidence has been collected and all sites have been barricaded. The nature of explosives used and trigger would be revealed later. The blasts, he said, were not triggered by remote control.
Chidambaram ruled out intelligence failure but noted there was no input from central or state agencies on yesterday’s blasts. “We live in the most troubled neighbourhood in the world. Afghanistan-Pakistan is the epicentre of terror. This makes India very vulnerable,” he said.