Two car bombs exploded in the heart of India's financial capital Monday raising
concern that a cycle of violence between Muslim and Hindu extremists might
be flaring up again. The bombings were the worst attack in Bombay (Mumbai)
since 1993, when a series of bombings killed 260 people. At least 44 people
were killed Monday and nearly 150 injured when two almost simultaneous explosions
took place - one near the Gateway of India, a popular foreign tourist attraction,
and the second in the densely packed streets of Zaveri Bazaar, Bombay's gold
and diamond district. Police said a bomb hidden in the trunk of a taxi went
off in Zaveri Bazaar at 12:50 p.m. and another bomb, also in a taxi, was detonated
at 1:05 p.m. outside the Taj Mahal hotel, near the Gateway of India monument.
Sushil Kumar Shinde, Maharashtra's chief minister, said the five of the seven
Bombay bomb attacks in the last six months took place in Gujarati dominated
areas of Mumbai leading to further speculation that these attacks could be
organized by Muslim groups in retaliation to the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.
Speculation as to the rationale behind Monday's Bombay bombing also ranged
from Al Qaeda hitting "soft targets" to Muslim extremists reacting
to a new report released about the Ayodhya temple. Police and government officials
in India's commercial capital said Monday's bomb attacks appeared to be the
work of local Islamic militants working with the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba
group. Photographed 26 April 2005.
