n Home minister says it was a terrorist attack n Obama condemns blasts, offers support MUMBAI – Three bombs rocked crowded districts of Mumbai during rush hour Wednesday, killing at least 21 people in the biggest militant 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 November 2008 attacks which killed 166 people and raised tensions with nuclear-armed arch rival Pakistan. At least 141 people were wounded Wednesday and the death toll was at least 21, the Home Ministry said in statements about what it called “terror attacks” centered mainly on Mumbai's jewelry markets. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts. “This is another attack on the heart of India, heart of Mumbai. We will fully meet the challenge, we are much better prepared than 26/11,” Prithviraj Chavan, the state's chief minister, told NDTV broadcaster, referring to the 2008 attacks. Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram also said “terrorists” were to blame. “The blast occurred at about 6.45 P.M. (1315 GMT) within minutes of each other. Therefore, we infer that this was a coordinated attack by terrorists,” Chidambaram told reporters. At least one car and a motorbike were used in the coordinated attacks in which improvised explosive devices were believed to have been used, officials said. “This tactic is much more in line with those used by more amateurish groups such as the Indian Mujahideen who have targeted crowded urban areas before,” Stratfor, a strategic affair think tank, said in a statement. Television images showed blaring ambulances carrying away the wounded and others being loaded into civilian vans to take them to hospital. Other images showed bodies lying among glass and metal debris in narrow streets. At the Dadar area in central Mumbai, one of the explosions left car windows shattered and uprooted electric poles. Police used sniffer dogs to look for clues while the public helped paramedics carry away some of the injured. The biggest blast was at the Opera House, which once housed operas and is now an area where diamond jewelry is sold and a hub for diamond traders. There was no immediate indication any Pakistan group was involved. Another blast, also in south Mumbai, was at the Zaveri Bazaar, India's largest bullion market which was hit twice in the past. The third blast was at Dadar, the crowded center of the city, near the main railway tracks. “When I heard of the blast, I tried to call because I knew he (husband) was in Dadar. Next thing I know someone picked up the phone and said he was admitted to KEM (hospital) so I came here,” said Rinku Vishwakarma, whose husband is a carpenter. US President Barack Obama condemned the attacks and offered support to bring the perpetrators to justice. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani swiftly condemned Wednesday's blasts in a statement. The home ministry ordered security heightened across the country. Mumbai has over the years 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.
