MUMBAI – Explosions have rocked the Indian Foreign Ministry
and a Hotel complex in Mumbai, in what appears to be a series of planed bombings
within the Indian state. Reports indicate that bombs have gone off in two open
areas of Delhi, as well as a hotel in Mumbai with over 100 occupants. Local
police and emergency response are on the scene, but as the fire continues no
official figures on the casualties are available at this time. No information
is currently available about the status of the Foreign Ministry, where local
officials have yet to issue a formal statement. It is believed that Chinese Special
Representative Dai Bing-guo may have been in the Ministry at the time of the
bombing, as he was scheduled to meet with local representatives regarding the status
of the Sino-Indian border and the Line of Actual Control.
These attacks are reminiscent of the 2008 Mumbai attacks by the Islamist terrorist group Laskhar-e-Taiba. Members of the organization orchestrated a similar set of
coordinated shootings and bombings throughout Mumbai in November of 2008, in
one of the largest terrorist acts on Indian soil. 164 people were killed in the
2008 attacks, with almost twice as many wounded. Laskhar e-Taiba is believed to
operate from Pakistan, and their involvement in today’s bombings is likely to
cause tension in an already highly strained relationship between these two
countries.
-New York Times
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