Every Indian city vulnerable to attacks

No advance intelligence about the attacks: Chidambaram

Federal Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, who flew all the way down to Mumbai late last night, at a press conference hosted jointly with Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, summed up the continuing investigations into the serial blasts of Wednesday. The blast at Kabutar Khana in Dadar, he said, was low intensity whereas those at Opera House and Zaveri Bazar ranged from medium to high.

Ammonium nitrate was the explosive used with timer devices, Chidambaram said whereas confirming seventeen deaths and 131 injured, who are admitted for treatment in thirteen hospitals across the town. Twenty six of the injured are discharged; another eighty two are stable, and twenty three are seriously injured. The sites were chosen with a watch on population density, the minister said.

The Home Minister said groups from NIA and NSG are operating with the ATS and therefore the Mumbai Crime Branch to run forensics and alternative investigations on the blast sites; the general public won't be allowed within the space, he warned.

Chidambaram said it absolutely was too early to spot suspects; all teams are below suspicion and central and state agencies are operating joined to spot the perpetrators. The house Minister added that there was no advance intelligence concerning the likelihood of an attack. The dearth of intelligence, he said later in response to a matter, doesn't indicate a failure of the involved agencies.

Praising the response of the civilians, the minister asked the media to exercise restraint and to refrain from pointless speculation.

 Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan condoled with the families of these killed and injured, and announced honorariums of Rs five lakh to those killed, and Rs 50,000 to the injured.

 Without delving deep into attainable motives, Chidambaram in response to a matter said the blasts can be in revenge for actions taken by the native police within the recent past. The minister conjointly failed to rule out the likelihood that those against the peace method would possibly target the Indo-Pak talks scheduled for later this month.

 Responding to queries, Chidambaram said no arrests are created to date. Saying that the govt. would take full responsibility for the attacks, the minister detected that several attacks had been foiled within the past months and years; "this one slipped through," Chidambaram said.

 The minister said all 3 affected areas had CCTV cameras in place. It’ll take time and resources to expand such surveillance nation-wide, he detected. Stating that initial investigations were being dole out by varied Indian agencies, he said foreign agencies would be known as on to assist in case of would like.

 Referring to the readiness of the police, Chidambaram detected that the capability of the Mumbai police force had been increased "tremendously", and said there are gaps in each police organization within the world, together with India. The threat of terror is universal and sustained vigilance is that the solely answer, he said.

 The minister detected that the attacks targeted neither foreigners, nor any explicit community -- the targeted places had a plurality of communities, he detected, adding that Zaveri Bazaar had sustained its third attack owing to its industrial importance.

 While stating that this was no time to trade political charges, Chidambaram in response to a matter said he was disappointed with Pakistan's response on 26/11 and its lack of action in bringing the perpetrators to justice.