India on Alert: 17 dead in 3 serial blasts in busy Mumbai areas

A top local official says three explosions that shook India's financial capital have killed at least 17 people and wounded 81 others.

Prithviraj Chavan, the top official in the state of Maharashtra, said the latest attack killed 17 people.

India's Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said officials believed "it was a coordinated attack by terrorists"

Earlier, news reports coming in from Mumbai said three blasts struck India's commercial capital on Wednesday evening during rush hour. An unexploded bomb was been found in Dadar and the bomb disposal squad was trying to defuse it. The triple blasts occurred within 15 minutes of each other.

July 13 is marked as an annual Martyrs' Day when 21 Kashmiri Muslims were ordered killed by the army of the state's Hindu king to quell a 1931 uprising. There is yet no report linking the blasts to Kashmir issue. No one has yet claimed responsibility, but the Indian Home Ministry has described the blasts as a "terror strike".

In New Delhi, the Home Ministry said the multiple explosions were a "terror strike" involving improvised explosive devices, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

A minister in the Maharashtra state government, Chhagan Bhujbal, told reporters that all three explosions had targeted busy areas of Mumbai, including a wholesale gold market. "It is clear that that the attackers wanted to hurt as many as people as possible. Many people are injured," Bhujpal said. 

Police said one of the blasts had gone off near a school.

TV reports quoting eyewitnesses say there are about 100 people injured. An official told TV reporters that the injured have been rushed to hospital. They said six people died in the Dadar blast and another four in Zaveri Bazaar blast, quoting eyewitnesses. Police have confirmed 8 dead, says CNN.

Mumbai has been a frequent target for Kashmiri militants.

The blasts were heard in the areas of Dadar West, Jhaveri Bazaar and Opera House. They happened in the evening just after office closing time.

There is resulting traffic chaos in Mumbai. Television footage from CNN-IBN television channel showed debris of twisted metal, motorbikes and cars severely damaged at one suspected blast site.

"We were inside our office when we heard a huge noise. Outside there was a lot of commotion, we can see fire trucks are here and they have taken away two or three bodies," Jasraj Jain, a witness, told CNN-IBN television.

Police and security forces have cordoned off the affected areas. Some reports say that the Mumbai Police Control Room had received a call this morning saying there would be bomb  blasts across the city. But this has not been confirmed by the police.

TV images are showing pictures of a car that is said to have been involved in the blasts and could have acted as the car bomb. Another blast was reported in a meter box near a bus stop.

CID personnel are already on the scene inspecting the site for evidence.

A terror siege three years ago killed 166 people in Mumbai.  In 2008, a three-day terrorist siege by 10 armed men hit two luxury hotels, a Jewish center and a VT railway station.

"It must be a bomb blast," Chhagan Bhujbal, a Maharashtra state minister told a TV news channel.

News channels reported that high alert has been declared across the city. Crowded places like malls and markets are also on high alert in Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and other major Indian cities.

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