Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=03/14/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=INDIA/BOMB (L-UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-300688

BYLINE=ANJANA PASRICHA

DATELINE=NEW DELHI

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// EDS: UPDATES INTRO WITH DETAILS OF BOMBS FOUND IN DELHI. NO CHANGE IN TEXT. ///

INTRO: Security is tight in India's financial capital Bombay, a day after a powerful bomb on a train killed 11 people and wounded more than 60 others. Meanwhile, police in the Indian capital say they have defused six bombs found in a plastic bag near a taxi stand at the city's main rail station. Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi.

TEXT: Scores of security personnel are deployed at rail stations, airports and other public places in Bombay, capital of the western Maharashtra state. Police checkpoints are in place throughout the sprawling city of 14 million people.

The bomb blast on Thursday ripped through a suburban train packed with evening rush-hour commuters. Bomb experts, examining the wreckage, say it appears a powerful explosive was planted in a carriage reserved for women passengers.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast, but investigations are focusing on hard line Islamic groups.

Maharashtra's chief minister, Chhagan Bhujbal, has called the bombing a terror attack.

/// CHHAGAN BHUJBAL ACT IN HINDI, FADE UNDER ///

Mr. Bhujbal says militant groups are creating terror throughout the country, and want to target a major city such as Bombay. He is asking people to remain alert.

Residents in the city are nervous, and police were flooded with calls reporting the whereabouts of unclaimed packages.

There have been three other bombings in the city since December. All have targeted crowded places, such as markets and buses. Police say the attacks could be linked, because all used a similar kind of explosive.

Victims injured in the latest blast described their experience. Ramu Neyi was among the countless workers headed home when disaster struck his train.

/// RAMU NEYI ACT IN HINDI. FADE UNDER ///

He says there was darkness after the blast, and his body seemed to be filled with smoke.

The blast occurred one day after the 10th anniversary of a wave of bomb blasts in Bombay that killed more than 250 people. Those attacks came amid Hindu-Muslim riots sparked by the demolition of a mosque in northern India by Hindu hard-liners in 1992. (signed)

NEB/HK/AP/JO/MH/TW/FC