BOMBAY, 15 March 2003 — A massive manhunt was under way yesterday for the perpetrators of a bomb attack on a commuter train here which killed 12 people and injured more than 70 others. The chief minister of the western Indian state of Maharashtra, Sushil Kumar Shinde, said police had not ruled out the possibility of the involvement of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Thursday night’s blast.
Police said earlier they suspected the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was behind the explosion on a crowded suburban train during peak evening rush-hour.
“The possibility of the involvement of ISI and SIMI and a few other such organizations cannot be ruled out,” Shinde told reporters after heading a disaster management meeting.
“We have some more information today and believe that the culprits will be nailed soon,” he added.
Immediately after Thursday’s blast, police threw a security ring around railway stations, airports and other key installations. They also set up road blocks across the western Indian city.
The deafening explosion as the train pulled into Mulund station panicked commuters, most of them office workers on their way home.
Briefcases, handbags and paper files fluttered down on platform number three at Mulund as office workers supported by fire department rescuers and rail staff rushed the injured to nearby hospitals.
The impact was so powerful it blew a gaping hole in the metal structure and left seats a mess of twisted metal.
Shinde said police had been aware since August of the possibility of attacks, and had taken steps to beef up security in the city.
“It is not an intelligence failure or that the police failed, as all efforts were taken to step up security on coordinated information that was gathered by various agencies,” he said. Police said they were certain Bombay had been specifically singled out for attack.
“Looking at the four bomb blasts in the city within a span of three months, it is very clear that Bombay is being targeted,” Bombay joint police commissioner Ahmed Javed told AFP.
“The city is vulnerable to such attacks. The only way to stop it is to get these guys who are doing it and stop them from doing it,” he said, adding that he saw SIMI’s hand in the bombings.
Meanwhile, a bomb scare at New Delhi’s main railway station yesterday spread panic among travelers but police said it was a hoax.
Police called in a bomb squad and sniffer dogs after a suspicious plastic bag was found, but it turned out to contain firecrackers. “There was a lot of panic but we’ve checked everything and there are no bombs,” a railway police official told Reuters.
