7 bombs, 10 minutes, 160 dead

7 bombs, 10 minutes, 160 dead – this was one of the headlines in the Times of London on the bomb blasts at commuter trains and stations yesterday.

It only took 10 minutes of carnage for the unknown perpetrators to get their wishes – however bloody they may be. But why must they continue to kill soft targets? These commuters had nothing to do with their (whoever the perpetrators are) cause, neither are they a hindrance. The victims are normal folks who were returning home after a long days work. Their aim in live is the same as everyone’s – to feed their families.

It is not just in Mumbai innocents are targeted. About a year ago, morning-hour commuters were also the mark of suicide bombers in London. Just before that in 2004 it was the same case in Madrid.

Inevitably blame will fall on – just as responsibility will be taken by – Muslim terrorists. I don’t know if Osama’s al-Qaeda is involved in the Mumbai blasts. After all India has it own share of local terrorism problems.

Time.com said this:

“India is home to a Muslim insurgency in Kashmir…security sources told TIME they suspected a shadowy alliance of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) working with indigenous Indian Muslims from the banned Student Islamic Movemement of India (SIMI). SIMI detonated a total of nine bombs in Bombay during the course of 2003, killing close to 80 people and injuring hundreds more. The same loose grouping of Islamic radicals are also suspected of being behind a series of attacks in India in the last year that included three blasts in New Delhi last October that killed 60 and three more in the holy Hindu city of Varanasi in March this year, which killed 20, as well as smaller attacks in Bangalore and Hyderabad.”

For the perpetrators, the loss of innocent lives seems to be secondary. Their main aim looks like to instill fear into everyone. Will this work? Recent bombings everywhere in the world suggest that this is a counter-productive measure.

Even in Mumbai, just as everyone was trying to come to terms with the latest bombings, an angry defiance is also taking root.

The Times reported one survivor as saying:

“When they find those responsible, they shouldn’t have trials or anything. They should just shoot them on these tracks.”