An obscure Kashmiri militant group claimed responsibility yesterday for bomb blasts in India's capital which killed at least 59 people, but analysts said it was probably a front for a larger Pakistan-based group.
New Delhi has so far refused to blame anyone for Saturday's trio of blasts, but security experts see the hand of Lashkar-e-Taiba (Force of the Pure) behind the attacks, in an attempt to derail the peace process between India and Pakistan.
The explosions took place within half an hour in markets packed with shoppers just days before major Hindu and Muslim festivals. Many of the victims were women and children.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed terrorists, but said it was too early to say who was behind the attacks.
Yesterday, the Islami Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Group), telephoned local newspapers in Indian Kashmir to claim responsibility for the blasts and warned of more to come.
"This is a Pakistani group and is a front organization of Lashkar," said Ajai Sahni of New Delhi's Institute for Conflict Management. These front organizations are often used to muddy the waters and deflect blame from their parent groups, especially when civilian casualties are high, he said.
"One way or the other, Lashkar is behind it," he added.
Rohan Gunaratna, a Singapore-based expert on terrorism, agreed the blasts were almost certainly carried out by groups from the subcontinent but inspired by the methods of al-Qaeda.
"It is very likely the attacks were meant to affect the peace process between Pakistan and India," he said.
Meanwhile, investigators detained more than 20 people in raids on dozens of small hotels across the Indian capital yesterday as they hunted for suspects in the bombings.
Police declared a state of emergency and closed all city markets after the Saturday evening blasts.
Police said they 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 bus conductor examined it and threw it out just as the blast occurred, injuring them both.
Police also announced a reward of 100,000 rupees (US$2,200) for clues to trace the bombers.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS