MUMBAI, July 13 (IANS): Ten to 15 people were killed and over 100 injured as three bombs went off within minutes of each other here Wednesday evening in the first terrorist attack in India's financial hub after 2008.
One of the blasts took place in Dadar West in central Mumbai and the others, about 10 km away, in Zaveri Bazar and Opera House in south Mumbai -- the latter two the city's jewellery hubs.
All three are busy residential and commercial areas, and were as usual packed with pedestrians and motorists during the peak evening hours when disaster struck.
Police Commissioner Aroop Patnaik said 10-15 people had been killed in the "suspected terror blasts".
In New Delhi, Home Secretary R.K. Singh put the number of injured at more than 100.
Singh said that one of the blasts took place in a car and another on a motorcycle, triggering panic and setting off minor fires that were quickly put out.
In all three cases, improvised explosive devices were used. A home ministry official said: "It is a terror attack."
It is the first terror attack in Mumbai after Pakistani terrorists ravaged the city in November 2008, leaving 166 Indians and foreigners dead.
One blast took place on an electric meter at a bus stop in Dadar in central Mumbai.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh quickly telephoned Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. Home Minister P. Chidambaram quickly convened a high-level meeting in New Delhi.
