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At least 40 dead indian bomb attacks Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1061806819928&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968705899037http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1061806819928&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968705899037
Aug. 25, 2003. 07:55 AM
At least 40 dead after Indian bomb attacks
One of four blasts targets popular tourist destination the Gateway of India
MUMBAI (AP) — Four bomb blasts rocked Mumbai, India's financial capital, today, killing at least 40 people and wounding at least 150, a police official said.
The explosions shook buildings. Telephone lines in the city were jammed and mobile phone services crashed briefly as panicked residents called family and friends.
Police issued security alerts for Mumbai, formerly Bombay, and the Indian capital of New Delhi after the explosions, calling policemen back from leave in case of further trouble.
The bombings killed at least 40 people and wounded at least 150, said Javed Ahmed, a police commissioner for Mumbai.
The explosions came hours after the government released a long-anticipated archeological report on a disputed religious site in northern India that has been linked to previous Mumbai blasts.
One explosion was at the Gateway of India, a famous seaside landmark and tourist attraction built by India's former British colonizers to commemorate the 1911 visit of King George V, said Javed Ahmed, a police commissioner for Mumbai. Another went off near the Pydhonie police station, he said.
Two more bombs rocked the Zaveri Bazaar, a crowded market of jewelry stores, said a police official who asked not to be identified.
All the bombs went off in southern Mumbai. It was unclear which explosions were deadly.
"The building we were in shook and we heard a loud noise," said Ingrid Alva, a public relations consultant who was at work at the time. "I rushed out and saw the crowds at the Gateway of India ... We saw some body parts lying around, before we were told to move away by the police."
The blast broke windows at the Taj Mahal Hotel, which is across the street from the gateway, and damaged cars in the parking lot, said Ravi Dubey, the hotel's communications manager.
Earlier Monday, the government archeological agency released a report on a religious site in the northern town of Ayodhya, claimed by both Hindus and Muslims.
That dispute has been blamed for previous explosions in Mumbai, including a series of bombings in 1993 that killed more than 250 people and injured 1,000. Police blamed Islamic militants. They said those blasts were in retaliation for the 1992 destruction by Hindu mobs of the 16th-century Ayodhya mosque, and to avenge Muslim deaths in riots that followed.
Some Hindus claim the mosque was built centuries ago on the ruins of a Hindu temple that marked the birthplace of their supreme god, Rama.
The report indicated there had been some sort of ancient structure at the site, lawyers for both sides said, though they disagreed on whether it said there had actually been a temple.
The report has not been released to the public or the media.
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