Mumbai gunman contests sentence

29 July 2011 Last updated at 16:02 GMT Qasab was found guilty of mass murder The sole surviving gunman from the deadly 2008 attacks in Mumbai (Bombay) has appealed against his death penalty in India's Supreme Court.

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab filed his appeal through prison authorities, prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told the BBC.

The attack claimed 165 lives. Nine other gunmen were also killed.

Qasab was found guilty of waging war against India, multiple murder and conspiracy. He was sentenced to death in May last year.

In February, the high court in Mumbai rejecting his appeal against the sentence. It is not clear when the Supreme Court would provide Qasab with legal aid and take up the appeal.

The lawyer who defended Qasab during his trial says he understands why his former client is appealing.

"The law gives rights to all to defend themselves. There's no delay. It's a judicial process," Abbas Kazmi told the BBC.

"Anyone would try to cling on to the slightest hope he has. That's what Qasab is doing."

The 60-hour siege which began on 26 November 2008 targeted luxury hotels, Mumbai's main railway station and a Jewish cultural centre.

Qasab and an accomplice carried out the assault on the station, killing 52 people.

The attacks soured ties between India and Pakistan, with India blaming Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attacks.

After initial denials, Pakistan acknowledged that the assault had been partially planned on its territory and that Qasab was a Pakistani citizen.

But despite charging seven people in connection with the attacks, the Pakistani authorities have yet to convict anyone.

Relations with India have been slowly improving and the two countries have resumed peace talks.

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Mumbai probe hopes for CCTV clues

15 July 2011 Last updated at 06:42 GMT Indian investigators looking into Wednesday's blasts in Mumbai have been examining security camera footage for vital clues, media reports say.

An unnamed detective told the state-run DD News that footage from one of the sites revealed "suspicious behaviour of some people"..

The three explosions killed 18 people and injured dozens.

The attacks are the deadliest in India since 2008, when gunmen killed 165 people in a three-day raid in Mumbai.

Home Minister P Chidambaram has said the blasts could have been the work of a "small group" who had "worked in a very clandestine manner".

No group has said it planted the bombs but suspicion among some officials and analysts has fallen on the Indian Mujahideen, a group which has claimed to have carried out similar attacks in the past.

Investigators who are going through the security camera footage and forensic evidence from the three sites are hoping to get a breakthrough, media reports say.

The biggest explosion occurred at the Opera House business district in the south of the city, in an area known as a hub for diamond traders. The detective quoted by DD News said footage from the site showed people behaving suspiciously.

"But until we question them or record their statement, we cannot say anything about their involvement," he added.

"We are calling all those people seen in the footage to get a clear picture of the incident or any details that may help us in the probe."

On Thursday Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the "perpetrators of [the] Mumbai blasts shall be pursued relentlessly and brought to justice quickly".

The other blasts hit Zaveri Bazaar, an area with many jewellery shops, and Dadar district in the city centre.

Mumbai has been targeted many times in recent years.

The 2008 attacks, which focused on two high-end hotels, a busy train station, a Jewish centre and other sites frequented by foreigners, were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.

The gunmen, nine of whom died in the raid, killed 165 people.

Pakistan-based militants were blamed for the November 2008 attacks and peace efforts between the two countries were derailed. Pakistan's government was quick to condemn the latest bombings.

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Multiple explosions shake Mumbai

13 July 2011 Last updated at 16:09 GMT The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan says the explosions happened in the middle of rush hour

Three near-simultaneous explosions have shaken India's commercial capital Mumbai (Bombay), police say.

Seventeen people were killed and 81 injured, said Maharashtra state's chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.

He called the explosions, during Mumbai's busy evening rush-hour, "a co-ordinated attack by terrorists".

One explosion was reported in the Zaveri Bazaar, another in the Opera House business district and a third in Dadar district in the city centre.

Police sources were reported as saying the explosions were caused by home-made bombs.

Mumbai was the scene of a 10-man raid and co-ordinated attacks in November 2008 in which nearly 170 people were killed.

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The three explosions in Mumbai have taken place in some of the most crowded neighbourhoods in the city.

Zaveri Bazaar is a bustling market area famous for its jewellers. It has been targeted before: during the serial blasts in the city in 1993, 17 people were killed and 57 injured when a scooter packed with explosives blew up there.

Opera House, next door, is also a bustling business district teeming with traders. And Dadar, in the heart of the city, has one of the most crowded railway stations on Mumbai's busy suburban train network.

The choice of locations makes it clear that the blasts were intended to cause maximum casualties. But early footage of one of the blast sites - a ripped-off cover of a bus shelter and a car with its glass shattered - points to a medium-level and possibly crude explosion.

So far, there is no evidence to suggest that Mumbai is under attack the way it was in November 2008. And this could easily be the handiwork of a local group.

The BBC's Soutik Biswas, in Delhi, says there is no evidence so far to suggest that Mumbai is under attack in the same way.

High alert

The latest explosions hit the city around 1900 (1330 GMT) as workers were making their way home.

Mumbai has been put on a state of high alert and a commando team is standing by, said Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Delhi, the capital, Calcutta and several other cities have also been put on alert. Mr Chidambaram urged people across the country to stay calm.

Forensics teams have been sent from Delhi and Hyderabad to examine the explosion sites.

The authorities have not yet said who they believe might be behind the explosions and no group has said it carried them out.

The explosion in Zaveri Bazaar, in the south of Mumbai, was reported in a jewellery shop, says the BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Mumbai.

The third explosion hit the Opera House district, also in the city's south, at a time when it would have been crowded with workers and commuters.

The blast in Dadar district, in the city centre, went off in a taxi next to a bus stop, reports say.

One eyewitness from the scene there told our correspondent he saw the bus stop and a car torn apart by the explosion.

According to some reports, the blasts came on the birthday of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 attacks.

Those attacks, which targeted two high-end hotels, a busy train station, a Jewish centre and other sites frequented by foreigners, were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.

Pakistan condemned the latest explosions, in a statement issued by the foreign ministry.

Mumbai has been targeted many times in recent years.

As well as the 2008 attacks, co-ordinated blasts on seven of the city's trains on 11 July 2006 caused massive loss of life. More than 180 people were killed and hundreds wounded in those bombings, which were blamed on Islamist militants.

The city suffered four bomb attacks during 2003, including twin blasts on 25 August 2003 which killed 52 people.

In 1993, 257 people were killed and 700 injured in a series of 12 bomb blasts across the city. The attacks were allegedly ordered by the Muslim-dominated underworld in retaliation for Hindu-Muslim riots.

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