THREE bomb blasts rock crowded districts of Mumbai during rush hour, killing 21 people. It is the biggest attack on India's financial capital since 2008 assaults blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
India has remained jittery about the threat of militant strikes, especially since the 2008 attacks which killed 166 people and raised tensions with arch rival Pakistan.
Around 141 people are injured, says Prithviraj Chavan, Chief Minister of the State of Maharashtra. "Scooters and motorcycles were used in the attacks," he said.
According to reports, improvised explosive device was placed in a car, suggesting the work of local groups rather than an international terror network.
Blaring ambulances have been seen carrying away the injured at one of the attack sites.
At Dadar in Central Mumbai – one of the explosions left car windows shattered and uprooted the electric poles.
Police were seen using sniffer dogs to look for clues while local people helped paramedics take the injured to the hospitals.
"We heard a big blast, buildings shook and windows shattered – It was deafening," said Aagam Doshi, a witness of the blast at the Opera House and a Diamond Merchant in South Mumbai.
"We came outside and the area was filled with black smoke. There were bodies lying all over the street and there was lots of blood. We saw many bodies with missing arms and legs."
GOLD AND SILVER MARKETS
One blast occurred at the Opera House, an area full of diamond stores in South Mumbai, near to the place where Pakistan-based militants carried out the bloody rampage in 2008.
Another blast was again in South Mumbai, at the Zaveri Bazaar – a big Gold and Silver market.
The third blast was in the centre of the city.
The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, long focused on fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, was blamed for the 2008 attacks.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani have condemned these blasts.
Home-grown militant groups are also active in the country and have in the past few years carried out attacks in large cities.
The Home Ministry has ordered the security to be heightened across India.
Mumbai has been the target of several attacks, including serial bomb blasts in 1993 that killed at least 260 people at the Stock Exchange and other areas.
