BackLive | Aftermath of Mumbai serial blasts
Live | Aftermath of Mumbai serial blasts
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•Investigators on Thursday scoured through CCTV footages at the three serial blasts sites in Mumbai in their hunt for the culprits and were also looking at whether a suicide bomber was involved in the terror attack.
There were no specific leads yet and authorities did not want to speculate on who could be involved in yesterday’s attack merely saying “all angles" are being probed and that all groups hostile to India are being probed. (PTI)
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•As Mumbaikars slowly came to grips with the explosions in three crowded areas caused by sophisticated Improvised Explosive (IED) devices, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said it was too early “to point a finger at any one group".
All groups “hostile to India" are on the “radar" in the probe, he said. The Minister revised the death toll to 18 including a person with a severed head from 21 which was put out in an official list released by the ministry. (PTI)
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•Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday lashed out at BJP for blaming Pakistan for the serial attacks in Mumbai saying it should wait for the investigations to be completed.
“I will request everyone, from L K Advani and others, that until it is not clear who is behind these attacks we should not blame others. It is our bad habit that we first put the blame and then try to find proof to prove our blame right," Omar told reporters here.
He said less than 24 hours after blasts in Mumbai, in which 18 people have died and more than 130 injured, senior BJP leaders came out to blame Pakistan.
“Who is behind it (attacks), let investigations be complete. Then, everything will be in front of us," he said. (PTI)
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•Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi arrived here this evening to comfort those affected by triple terror blasts that rocked the city, leaving 18 dead and 131 injured.
The two leaders are expected to review the security situation in the aftermath of the attacks with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and top officials of the state government.
They are scheduled to visit Saifee and J J hospitals, where a number of those injured are admitted, before flying back to Delhi tonight.
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister had announced an ex-gratia assistance of ₹ 2 lakh each for the kin of the deceased and ₹ 1 lakh each for the seriously wounded. (PTI)
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•In the wake of Mumbai blasts, the BJP has faulted government’s policies to deal with terrorism post 26/11, saying they were ‘lopsided’ and lacked a tough anti-terror law, while stressing that the party would push for evolving national consensus on tackling the menace.
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, attacking the UPA for ‘slackness’ in security set, also criticised government’s resolve to keep on holding talks with Pakistan when ‘terrorism continues to be an instrument of state policy of the country.’ (PTI)
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•Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has urged chief minister Prithviraj Chavan to hike the compensation money for families of the deceased and to those injured in Wednesday’s serial bomb blasts.
MPCC president Manikrao Thakre met Chavan on Thursday evening and submitted a memorandum stating the party’s views.
Thakre said he requested the chief minister to amend existing government norms to hike the compensation.
The state government has announced ₹ 5 lakh compensation for families of the victims and ₹ 50,000 for the injured and has also offered to bear the entire medical treatment expenses of those injured. (PTI)
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• Maharashtra ATS chief says maximum casualties at Opera House
•Close to a dozen probe teams formed; will ensure attackers are brought to book
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• Congress on Mumbai blasts
• Important for nation to stand united
• Opposition should not make divisive comments
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• Alleging that terror attacks in India were a proxy war waged by Pakistan, senior BJP leader L. K. Advani on Thursday said the government must shed its ambivalence and adopt zero tolerance towards terrorism.
• “Indian government must shed its ambivalence towards terrorism. It should declare that its policy against terrorism will be of zero tolerance. It must be categorical that there will be no tolerance towards terrorism after yesterday’s attacks," Advani told reporters. (PTI)
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• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announces ex-gratia relief of Rs2 lakh each to the kin of the deceased in Mumbai blasts
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• Asserting that the government had promptly responded to the Mumbai serial blasts, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said though 99% terror strikes in the country had been prevented due to vigilance and intelligence, the aim is to achieve 100% result.
• Conveying condolences to all families affected by Wednesday’s blasts, the AICC general secretary said the UPA government had promptly handled the situation and has been working in the right direction to tackle the menace. (PTI)
• In the wake of the serial blasts that rocked Mumbai, Bollywood cancelled major events in solidarity with the victims. (PTI)
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• Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who was in Delhi with her family Wednesday evening to receive the French honour Knight of the ‘Order of Arts and Letters’, decided to postpone the event, saying it was not a time to celebrate.
• “We are very shocked with the news of the blast. Our prayers are with the people affected. It is important for us Indians to stand strong and tell the perpetrators of terrorism that they cannot shake us. We believe that justice will be done. We pray for the victims and their families," said Aishwarya. (PTI)
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•European Union foreign policy chief denounced the ‘heinous’ triple bombing in Mumbai that killed 17 people and said the perpetrators must be brought to justice. Ashton ‘was horrified to hear that Mumbai has again been the target of a series of deadly bomb attacks,’ her office said in a statement. (PTI)
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Amitabh Bachchan flays media over blasts coverage
• Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan has taken a dig over the way media covers tragedies like the latest Mumbai serial blasts. “Yet again our city of Mumbai has been made the target of a brutal attack. Once again there shall be concerned voices raised by those in authority. Once again Mumbai will show its resilience and get back to work as rapidly as possible. “Once again TV channels shall give exclusive reports from the site of the action, claiming, how they were the first to bring this tragedy to your doorstep," Bachchan blogged. (PTI)
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Guardian.co.uk reports
• Since the November 2008 attack, money has been poured into upgrading police and intelligence capabilities in Mumbai. Even so, the most basic measures get indefinitely postponed. A Mumbai police plan to set up a city-wide 5,000-camera surveillance network has been gathering dust in the state home department since January 2009. If such a police CCTV network had been in place identifying the perpetrators of the attack might have been made easier. (Read full story)
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• Shiv Sena on Thursday said it was wrong for Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi to equate Mumbai terror attacks with those in Afghanistan.
“We elect you to protect us. When you compare the Mumbai attacks to those in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. It is an insult to those killed in these attacks," Sena MP Sanjay Raut said. (PTI)
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• Crisis management team meets in Mumbai
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• Rediff.com’s Toral Varia says investigators have begun the process of making sketches of the suspects based on eyewitness accounts. The police also take custody of all CCTV footage from all the three places. Statements of shopowners and staffers at the three sites are being recorded.
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• CNN.com on Mumbai blasts
Three bomb blasts rocked India’s largest city, Mumbai, in congested areas during the evening rush hour Wednesday, killing at least 21 people and injuring more than 100 others. (Read full story)
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The New York Times story on how the US uses biometrics to track terrorists -- a system that never forgets a face. (Read)
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• In photos |Mumbai blasts (BBC.com)
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• Senior BJP leader L K Advani visits Mumbai blast sites.
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• Three coordinated terror attacks in three crowded districts of Mumbai were not attacks on India’s financial markets, home minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on Thursday. (Reuters)
• “These cannot be seen as attacks on India’s commercial capital or on (our) markets," home minister P. Chidambaram told a news conference.
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• Home minister P. Chidambaram expresses deep regret over the Mumbai serial blasts.
• Ammonium nitrate with timer devices were used in the IEDs in Mumbai, says home minister.
• Blasts sites have been cordoned off; people will not be allowed there, says Chidambaram.
• All groups that are capable of carrying out such attacks are suspects: Home minister.
• No intelligence inputs about yesterday’s blast with Central and state agencies, says Chidambaram.
• 23 of the 131 injured are seriously injured. Some of these people are critical, says home minister.
• I am sad that the second incident of terror attack has happened after 26/11 carnage and both have happened in Maharashtra: Chidambaram.
• P. Chidambaram says Indians live in most troubled neighbourhood in world; Pakistan/Afghanistan epicentre of terrorism
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