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Mumbai blast breakthrough 'soon'
17/07/2006 13:42 - (SA)
Ramola Talwar Badam
Mumbai - Investigators said on Monday they expect a breakthrough soon in last week's deadly train bombings, which officials have linked to Pakistan, as India demanded "firm commitment" from its nuclear-armed rival on reining in terrorists.
"It's premature to speak of information we have received, but we are working on all possible leads," said Mumbai's police chief AN Roy.
"We believe the breakthrough will come soon."
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said India's two-year-old peace process with Pakistan cannot move forward if terrorism "aided and abetted from outside" continues to claim lives in India, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Singh spoke to reporters travelling with him to St Petersburg, Russia, for the summit of the Group of Eight leaders of industrialised nations. Singh is attending as an observer.
The eight blasts on Tuesday on Mumbai's commuter train network killed 182 people and injured more than 800, triggering public anger amid accusations that the perpetrators were Islamic militants aided by Muslim-majority neighbouring Pakistan. India is predominantly Hindu.
"There has to be a firm commitment that Pakistani territory is not used to support terrorist acts directed against our country ... but the commitment has to be backed by action on the ground," Singh was quoted as saying.
Authorities on Sunday lowered the death toll from the bombings from more 200, saying that separate emergency agencies counted some victims twice. Sanjay Joshi, of Maharashtra state's disaster response coordination agency, also said that 842 people were injured and 286 of them remain hospitalised.
No one has been arrested in the coordinated attacks, though investigators suspect Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a Pakistan-based Muslim militant group blamed for a number of bomb blasts in India in recent years.
- AP
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