Bombay 7/11 - Mumbai Trains rocked by Serial Bomb Blasts

India will remember 7/11 similar to USA's 9/11 and Madrid's 3/11. On a day when Srinagar (summer capital of Kashmir) was shaken by 6 blasts in succession in the morning, Indian financial capital Mumbai was hit by 7 bomb explosions in quick succession on the evening of 7/11/2006. The serial bomb blasts hit Bombay's commuter rail network during the rush hour on Tuesday evening. The series of 7 explosions occurred within 11 minutes of each other between 6.24 PM to 6.35 PM, in first-class compartments of packed commuter trains.

The powerful blasts reportedly killed as many as 190 people and wounded at least 663. Mumbai Police commissioner A. N. Roy said the numbers were preliminary, indicating the possibility of dramatic rise in death and injury toll. Major hospitals across Bombay have been swamped with casualties.

The near-simultaneous bombings occurred in local trains, described as the Lifeline of Mumbai. The explosions were so powerful that they ripped apart train cars. Compartment windows and doors of the trains were tored through and blown off and debris and luggage were strewn across rail tracks. One of the train compartments reportedly was split in half by the explosion. Indian TV news channels broadcasted videos of dead bodies and wounded sprawled on train tracks and being carried through railway stations.

Chaos engulfed the crowded Bombay rail network following the commuter train blasts as authorities struggled to treat the wounded amid heavy monsoon downpours. Some of the injured frantically dialled their mobile phones. As news of the serial bomb explosions spread, telephone services jammed throughout the city as thousands of people began trying to reach their friends and loved ones who use local trains. Train services along the affected rail line were immediately suspended, stranding hundreds of thousands of commuters.

Major cities in India were put on high alert after the serial blasts in Bombay. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosions. A senior Bombay police official, P.S. Pasricha, said the bomb blasts were part of a well coordinated terrorist attack. Indian Intelligence agencies hinted involvement of terrorists in the attack, which came in quick succession - a usual tactic used by Kashmiri militant groups.

The 'soft' target was clearly peak rush hour crowds of local trains. Mumbai's suburban train network, one of the most busiest and crowded in the world, is estimated to carry about 6 million commuters a day, more than half of the total daily passenger capacity of Indian Railways (which is itself hailed as the busiest network in the world). Mumbai, a metropolis of more than 17 million, is the financial capital of India. Today's incident will most possibly hurt Bombay stock market, which may crash when it opens tomorrow. Indian rupee came down 0.3% against dollar following the news.

The explosions in Bombay followed a series of grenade attacks in Srinagar in the morning that killed 7 people.