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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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 Sat Oct 29, 2005 11:47 am Three Blasts Rock New Delhi; 49 Die |
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| Quote: | Three Blasts Rock New Delhi; 49 Die
Saturday, October 29, 2005
AP
NEW DELHI � Coordinated explosions in India's capital ripped through at least two markets jammed with evening shoppers ahead of an upcoming Hindu festival and a bus, killing at least 49 people.
Officials blamed terrorists for the blasts, which came as India and nuclear rival Pakistan (search) began unprecedented talks on opening their disputed and heavily defended Kashmir frontier to bring food, shelter and medical aid to victims of the Himalayan region's massive earthquake.
The first explosion hit New Delhi's main Paharganj market, leaving behind bloodstained streets and mangled stalls of wood and twisted metal. Within minutes came an explosion at the popular Sarojini Nagar market � the deadliest, with 39 killed � and the bus blast in the Govindpuri neighborhood. Police said at least 60 people were wounded in the first blast and dozens in the other two.
Police declared a state of emergency and closed all city markets. "I appeal to you. Please disperse from the markets and go back to your families," Home Minister Shivraj Patil (search) said in a televised address.
The attacks targeted the many people shopping just days before the festival of Diwali, a major Hindu holiday during which families exchange gifts, light candles and celebrate with fireworks. The markets where the blasts occurred often sell fireworks that are elaborate and potentially dangerous.
Babu Lal Khandelwal, a shop owner in the central Paharganj neighborhood, an area of small stores and inexpensive hotels frequently crowded with foreign backpackers, said the blast knocked him to the ground.
"There was black smoke everywhere," he said. "When the smoke cleared, I could see there were people bloody and lying in the street."
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (search) urged people to remain calm and said in a statement that "India will win the battle against terrorism," according to one of his top advisers, Sanjaya Baru, who said the explosions were the work of terrorists but did not say who was believed to be behind them.
The Indian government faces opposition from dozens of militant organizations � from tiny fringe organizations to well-armed Kashmiri rebel groups � but no group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings.
Hours before the explosions, Indian and Pakistani officials opened talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, on whether to let Kashmiris hit by the devastating Oct. 8 earthquake cross the militarized Line of Control, the cease-fire line that divides the region over which the longtime enemies have fought two wars.
Pakistan condemned the multiple attacks in New Delhi.
"The attack in a crowded market place is a criminal act of terrorism. The people and government of Pakistan are shocked at this barbaric act and express deep sympathy with the families of the victims," a Foreign Ministry statement said.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the blasts "appear to have been targeted at heavily populated areas to produce maximum carnage."
"This is yet another example of terrorists' cynical and callous disregard for human life," Straw added. "On behalf of the British government, I would like to offer the people of India my support and deepest sympathy."
Amid the chaos of the blast scenes, television footage showed groups of men making their way through piles of chest-high debris, salvaging the few items left intact: a child-size purple plastic chair, a red storage bin, a lone bicycle wheel.
Uniformed officers tried to clear people away so ambulances and fire trucks could pass through; others tried to bring a sense of order to the cleanup efforts. A number of people were carried away on stretchers, including a young woman in a purple shirt who thrashed her arms and cried out as a medical team attended to her.
Investigators stood around a small crater filled with debris, about 10 feet from a string of shops.
Fire department spokesman Jagtar Singh seven people were killed in the first blast, in the crowded central neighborhood of Paharganj and three were killed on the bus. Patil, of the Home Office, said 39 people were killed in the blast in the Sarojini Nagar market, often crowded for its variety of goods from knockoff designer clothing to kitchen crockery.
"The blast was so powerful, my house shook," said Kiran Mohan, a photo editor who lives about 200 yards away from the Sarojini Nagar market. |
Even MORE evidence of a global war on terror and that we are fighting WORLD WAR Three here.
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Sat Oct 29, 2005 12:22 pm |
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Let's list out the different nations involved in the War on Terror, which makes it a new kind of World War--World War III.
-US
-Israel
-Iraq
-Afghanistan
-Iran
-Syria
-Pakistan
-India
-Russia
-Spain
-Great Britain
-Egypt
-Saudi Arabia
-Indonesia
-Australia
There may be more, and the list is expanding.
It's World War III, stupid!
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Birdy
Socialist
Joined: 20 Sep 2004
Posts: 13502
Location: Here.
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| Sat Oct 29, 2005 1:09 pm |
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^ Yeah, exactly...  It's so weird!! Damn... Another terrorist attack.  So weird, it feels so unreal.
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Nosce te ipsum
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Brightstar82
Rear Admiral
Joined: 08 Apr 2005
Posts: 4394
Location: A Borg Cube....Where Else?
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| Sun Oct 30, 2005 4:47 pm |
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All these explosions are beginning to really scare me..Its so sad 
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Sun Oct 30, 2005 4:52 pm |
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Al Quada, Hezbola, and Islamic Jihad aren't the only terrorist groups, like many foolishly believe.
| Quote: | Group Claims Responsibility for India Bombings
Sunday, October 30, 2005
NEW DELHI � A little-known group that police say has ties to Kashmir's (search) most feared militants claimed responsibility Sunday for a series of terrorist bombings that killed 59 people in New Delhi (search).
Authorities said they already had gathered useful clues about the near-simultaneous blasts Saturday night that ripped through a bus and two markets crowded ahead of the Hindu festival of Diwali, one of the year's busiest shopping seasons.
Investigators reportedly raided dozens of small hotels across India's capital looking for possible suspects, and police said "numerous" people were being questioned.
The attacks came at particularly sensitive time as India and Pakistan (search) were hashing out an unprecedented agreement to partially open the heavily militarized frontier that divides the disputed territory of Kashmir to speed relief to victims of a massive earthquake earlier this month.
The agreement was finalized early Sunday, and Indian officials appeared hesitant to quickly put the blame for the bombings on Pakistan-based militants, unlike in previous terror attacks during a 16-year-old insurgency by Islamic separatists in India's part of Kashmir.
India's accusations of Pakistani involvement in a 2001 attack on parliament put the two nuclear-armed rivals on the brink of a fourth war. But they pulled back and, after pursuing peace efforts since early last year, both appeared intent on keeping the atmosphere calm.
"We have lots of information but it is not proper to disclose it yet," Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil told clamoring journalists after an emergency meeting of the Cabinet called to discuss the attacks. "Our people are making good progress. The investigation is going well."
A man called a local news agency in Indian Kashmir to say the militant Islamic Inquilab Mahaz (search), or Front for Islamic Uprising, staged the bombings, which police said killed 59 people and wounded 210.
The caller, who identified himself as Ahmed Yaar Ghaznavi, said the bombings were "meant as a rebuff to the claims of Indian security groups" that militants had been wiped out by security crackdowns and the Oct. 8 earthquake that devastated the insurgents' heartland in the mountains of Kashmir.
A senior police officer in India's Jammu-Kashmir state said the caller's name was not familiar to intelligence agencies, and New Delhi's deputy police chief, Karnail Singh, said the group had not been very active since 1996.
However, while Singh refused to comment on the claim of responsibility, he said the group is linked to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (search), the most feared of the dozens of Kashmiri militant groups.
A leading anti-terrorism expert said earlier that the timing and nature of the blasts appeared to indicate the work of Lashkar.
"It looks like Lashkar. They are the most active group here," said Vikram Sood, the former head of the Research and Analysis Wing, India's foreign intelligence agency.
Lashkar and some other Kashmiri groups are known to have expertise in using the powerful explosive RDX, and a police officer with knowledge of the investigation said forensic experts were studying whether RDX was used in the attack.
He said witnesses reported that the biggest explosion created a huge ball of fire like that usually caused by RDX. The officer agreed to discuss the probe only if granted anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with journalists.
Police said they also were looking for a man in his 20s who refused to buy a ticket on a bus and got off in the Govindpuri neighborhood, leaving behind a large black bag. When some of the 40 passengers raised an alarm, the driver and conductor examined it and threw it out just as the blast occurred, injuring them both along with seven others.
Several Indian television stations said dozens of hotels in New Delhi had been raided after the bombings and suspects were detained.
Singh, the deputy police chief, refused to comment on the reported raids. He insisted that "no one is under detention," but said many people were being questioned.
After the attacks, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (search) � India's main opposition party � called on the government to review what it called the "soft border" policy agreed to with Pakistan.
The deal reached early Sunday will allow people to cross the frontier in Kashmir at five points starting Nov. 7 to help get food, shelter and medical aid to victims of the quake, which killed about 80,000 people and left 3 million homeless, most in Pakistan.
Opening the border is a touchy issue in India because of the uprising by Islamic militants who are fighting to make India's part of Kashmir independent or unite it with Pakistan.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since the subcontinent was partitioned at independence from Britain in 1947, two over Kashmir, but they have been pursuing efforts to improve relations and ease tensions since early last year.
"Both India and Pakistan internalized the experience of the last few years. This is reflected in the sobriety" of official comments about the bombings, said C. Uday Bhaskar, an analyst at New Delhi's Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses.
He noted that after the bloody 2001 attack on parliament, Indian leaders quickly blamed Kashmir militants and Pakistan's spy agency, nearly bringing on another fourth war.
"We now have a better appreciation of the linkages in such terror attacks and a better assessment of how to articulate it in public," Bhaskar said.
This time, too, Pakistan's government has been quick to condemn the bombings, which drew worldwide condemnation.
Source |
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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CJ Cregg
Commodore
Joined: 05 Oct 2002
Posts: 1254
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| Sun Oct 30, 2005 8:19 pm |
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Theres always been a "war on terror" Just people didnt take any notice before 9/11 and it highlighted in a BIG way the threat of terrorism is
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Sun Oct 30, 2005 8:46 pm |
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It's never been on such a large scale, however. There's been terrorism, but no War on Terror. It's never been on such a massive scale before. It's WWIII.
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Dirt
Exercise Boy
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 2086
Location: a tree
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| Fri Nov 04, 2005 4:38 am |
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^ Load of crap, terrorism has been around for ages.  Think ira, eta, etc.
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