Suicide attack a possibility in Mumbai blasts
14 Jul 2011
- The government has not ruled out the possibility of the involvement of a suicide bomber in the Mumbai serial blasts, Home Secretary RK Singh has said. According to Singh, the director general of the NSG has said that a body with circuitry embedded in it has been found from near an explosion site.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday announced ex-gratia assistance of Rs2 lakh each for the kin of the deceased in Wednesday's terror attack and also Rs1 lakh each for the seriously injured.
- Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government also announced a compensation of Rs5 lakh to the families of those killed and Rs50,000 to those injured in the triple bomb blasts.
- Prime minister Manmohan Singh will visit Mumbai on Thursday evening, but the timing of the visit will not be revealed for security reasons.
- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said 99 per cent terror strikes in the country had been prevented due to vigilance and intelligence, but the aim is to achieve 100 per cent result. When reminded that there was no terror attack in the United States after the 9/11 strike whereas attacks in India continued, Gandhi said the Americans were facing attacks in other places like Afghanistan.
- Casualty toll for Wednesday's terror strike in Mumbai stands at 18 dead, 131 injured, with 26 stated to be in the seriously injured category. 26 injured have been discharged and another 82 are stable, union home minister P Chidambaramadded.
- In his press conference today morning the union home minister P Chidambaram confirmed the use of ammonium nitrate in the Wednesday terror strike.
- He said the attacks were well coordinated. He said all possibilities were being looked at to identify likely perpetrators and that no single group was identified.
- The explosion at Dadar was of low intensity but the other two at Opera House, Zaveri Bazar were of high intensity. The blasts were not remote-triggered.
- Chidambaram said 17 people have been confirmed dead in the serial strike. However, the toll could go up to 18 as one body with a severed head had to be identified. 131 people have been injured in the terror attack, of which 26 are seriously injured.
- The Union home minister said a massive probe was on and all agencies were working in coordination.
- He said that the Maharashtra state police had successfully neutralised hostile elements in the last three months and had followed up on leads provided by central and state agencies, nabbing CPI-Maoist and Indian Mujahideen operatives.