(New York) - The bomb attacks today against civilian targets in Mumbai should be investigated and the perpetrators should be prosecuted, Human Rights Watch said today. Seven bombs are reported to have hit the city’s commuter rail network during rush hour on Tuesday evening, killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds more.
“These bombings are horrific crimes targeting innocent civilians,” said Joanne Mariner, Terrorism and Counterterrorism program director at Human Rights Watch. “India must investigate the bombings properly, find the bombers and give them a fair trial.”
The attacks, which were apparently coordinated, came less than a year after similar bomb blasts killed 59 people in New Delhi in October 2005. The near-simultaneous explosions in that attack ripped through a bus and two markets that were crowded ahead of the Hindu festival of Diwali.
Mumbai has also been hit by bombings in the past decade. Such attacks are often meant to exacerbate religious tensions, particularly Muslim-Hindu tensions.
Human Rights Watch called on armed groups in India to put an immediate stop to attacks on civilians and civilian objects.
“Deliberate attacks on civilians violate the most basic legal rights,” said Mariner. “They cannot be justified under any circumstances.”
