Peace Like A River


It was a wide river, mistakable for a lake or even an ocean unless you'd been wading and knew its current. Somehow I'd crossed it... Now I saw the stream regrouped below, flowing on through what might've been vineyards, pastures, orhards... It flowed between and alongside the rivers of people; from here it was no more than a silver wire winding toward the city. - Leif Enger, Peace Like A River

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Was RDX used in the Bombay terrorist attacks?

From this report from The Hindu News:

Duggal said 183 people were killed and 714 were injured. Of the dead, 123 bodies had been identified, he said. However, police officials in Mumbai put the death toll at 190.

Officials at the Sion, Cooper and KEM Hospitals said over 40 of the injured are in a serious condition.

Police officials said they suspected RDX explosive may have been used in the blasts. They said this possibility is being explored in the backdrop of the Anti Terrorist Squad's seizure of 43 kg of RDX from Aurangabad and other parts of the State in the past few months.


RDX was used in wedding bombings in Jordan last November. Traces of RDX was found after the London train bombings, and I believe traces of RDX were found after the Madrid train bombings.

Last October explosions in Delhi killed 61 people. It is believed RDX was used in those attacks.

As mentioned in this WoW briefing, in May some explosives were seized from LeT terrorists in India near Aurangabad. As mentioned above, RDX was among the weapons seized.

So, was LeT involved in the Bombay attacks? Was this an Al Qaeda attack?

According to this report from the The Times of India, LeT was denied responsibility.

Leading terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir denied on Wednesday any role in the bomb blasts in Mumbai and described the attacks as "barbaric" and "outrageous".

The security sources were quoted as naming Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as the prime suspect for the seven bomb blasts on Mumbai's rail network on Tuesday that killed at over 190 people and wounded close to 700.

But Lashkar denied any role.

"These are inhuman and barbaric acts. Islam does not permit the killing of innocent people," a man who identified himself as "Doctor Ghaznavi", spokesman of the Lashkar-e-Taiba said.

"Blaming LeT for such inhuman acts is an attempt by the Indian security forces to defame Kashmiri mujahideens," he said in telephone calls made to newspaper offices in Srinagar.


Given the similarities to the London and Madrid train bombings, was Al Qaeda involved, or a group with ties to AQ?

As Austin Bay points out, the date of the attack seems related to past attacks.

Americans will immediate think of Al Qaeda and point to the hideous numerology as a clue: 9/11 (New York and Washington), 3/11 (Madrid), 7/7 (London), and now 7/11 (Mumbai).


Authorities will be looking hard for answers to these questions.

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