NBC News and news services
Updated: 1 hour, 15 minutes ago
MUMBAI, India - Eight bombs exploded in the commuter rail network during rush hour Tuesday evening, killing at least 147 people and wounding more than 400 in what authorities called a well-coordinated terrorist attack.

India’s major cities were put on high alert. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh convened an emergency Cabinet meeting and said that “terrorists” were behind the attacks, which he called “shocking and cowardly attempts to spread a feeling of fear and terror among our citizens.”

Home Minister Shivraj Patil told reporters that authorities had “some” information an attack was coming, “but place and time was not known.”

Al-Qaida likely linked to attacks
One of the officials said the attacks’ coordinated nature and their targeting of trains at peak travel times match the modus operandi of two Islamic extremist groups that have been active in India during the last several years: Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, or Army of the Righteous, and Jaish-e-Mohammad, or Army of Mohammed.

The U.S. government has designated both groups as terrorist organizations and considers them affiliates of al-Qaida.

A senior U.S. counterterrorism official told NBC News that the Mumbai attacks are “more likely than not” the work of Lashkar e Taiba, the Kashmir separatist group, based on early analysis of the attacks. Laskhar translates to "The Army of the Pure."

“They have targeted trains before and are the leading suspect,” said the official. “They have gone after trains and train platforms in 2002 and 2003. It is more likely than not the work of Lashkar. In fact you can say it is very likely their work.”


The official confirmed that Dawood Ibrahim, the Indian Muslim radical, has indeed financed Lashkar operations in the past.

There was no immediate indication if suicide bombers were involved. Police inspector Ramesh Sawant said most of the victims suffered head and chest injuries, leading authorities to believe the bombs were placed in overhead luggage racks.

Body parts, debris, blood
Chaos engulfed the crowded rail network in India’s financial capital following the blasts that ripped apart densely packed carriages on trains that police said had either pulled into stations or were traveling between them.

Doors and windows were blown off the train cars, and witnesses said body parts were strewn on the ground.

After meeting with his Cabinet, Maharashtra state Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said Tuesday night that the death toll was 147, with another 439 wounded, the Press Trust of India reported.


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Authorities struggled to treat survivors and recover the dead in the wreckage amid heavy monsoon downpours, and the effort continued into the night. Survivors clutched bandages to their heads and faces, and some frantically dialed their cell phones. Luggage and debris were spattered with blood.

“I can’t hear anything,” said Shailesh Mhate, a man in his 20s, sitting on the floor of Veena Desai Hospital surrounded by bloody cotton swabs. “People around me didn’t survive. I don’t know how I did.”

Another man, bloody bandages over his eyes, held out a phone to a nurse, begging her to call his wife and tell her he was OK.

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