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.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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