13 charged over Mumbai train bombings

An Indian judge today began reading out charges against each of the 13 men accused of involvement in the July 11 Mumbai train bombings that killed 187 people and injured 824 others in Mumbai last year.

Judge Mrudula Bhatkar formally charged the 13 men of conspiring from 1999 to July 2006 to carry out sabotage by causing explosions in order to cause large scale loss of life with the intention of terrorising railway commuters, disturbing harmony, promoting enmity between religions and disrupting public transportation in Mumbai, the economic capital of India.

Police say the 13 men, along with 15 others still at large, belong to the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, or Army of the Pure, a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group, and the Students’ Islamic Movement of India, or SIMI, a banned group based in northern India.

A series of bombings ripped apart seven carriages during peak evening rush hour in July last year.