Suspected terror blasts hit Mumbai

Three explosions in a suspected terror attack rocked India’s financial capital of Mumbai today killing at least eight people and injuring 70.

The entire city was put on full alert with the blasts coming almost three years after 10 militant gunmen killed 166 people.

India’s Home Ministry called the separate blasts in three busy locations a terror attack.

One was in the crowded neighbourhood of Dadar in central Mumbai. The others were at the bazaar, which is a famed jewellery market, and the busy business district of Opera House, both in southern Mumbai and several miles apart.

“It must be a bomb blast,” Chhagan Bhujbal, a state minister told a TV news channel.

All three blasts happened around 7pm when all the neighbourhoods would have been packed with office workers and commuters.

The blasts – if confirmed as a terror strike – would mark the first major attack on Mumbai since the militant siege in November 2008.

That attack, which targeted two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and a busy train station, was blamed on Pakistan-based militant groups. The attacks escalated tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals and prompted them to suspend peace talks.

However, the talks have recently resumed.

Pakistan’s government expressed distress on the loss of lives and injuries soon after the latest blasts were reported.