BOMBAY, India -- An unprecedented wave of bombings jarred the Indian financial capital Friday from the Bombay Stock Exchange to the headquarters of Air India, killing at least 184 people and wounding nearly 600 as it spread panic in a city already weary from two months of Hindu-Muslim rioting.
At least 13 bombs, many of them planted in cars and timed to go off in five- to 10-minute intervals, exploded in 12 locales around the city, including Bombay University, two luxury hotels used by tourists and international businessmen, the city's main railway station and a bus station.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the string of explosions, which began about 1:30 p.m., but Interior Minister S.B. Chavan told a shocked Parliament the bombs were highly sophisticated and the attacks appeared to be the handiwork of terrorists with international links, not of street gangs.
He did not elaborate but said the bombs used were not available locally.
Interior Ministry officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were investigating whether theattacks were carried out by an Islamic fundamentalist group in reprisal for recent anti-Muslim rioting that left 800 people dead in Bombay.
Federal authorities placed the country on a high security alert. The central government ordered paramilitary troops rushed to Bombay and directed the Indian Army to stand by for possible deployment in the city.
'The attacks are part of a conspiracy to destabilize the nation,' said Chief Minister Sharad Pawar, who until last week was India's defense minister. He said the toll from the blasts was at least 100 people killed and nearly 600 wounded.
Bombay Additional Police Commissioner P.K. Chakravarthy, however, said the death toll had mounted to 184.
The bombing campaign came without any warning, signaling the introduction of new urban-terror tactics in a country already battered by escalating ethnic and sectarian unrest and separatist movements.
'The aim of the extremists was clear: to strike at the heart of Bombay's financial area and cause widespread terror,' a police officer said.
The highest-profile bombings, and two of the deadliest, occurred at two of the city's high-rise buildings: the Bombay Stock Exchange and the world headquarters of Air-India, the state-owned international carrier.
The blast at the stock exchange occurred at 1:30 p.m. local time when trading was at its peak. Authorities blamed a car bomb in an underground garage for the explosion, which ripped through the lower floors of the 29-floor stock exchange building. The explosion at the stock exchange building was so powerful that nearby buildings were damaged.
After the blast, the nearly 3,000 dealers inside the stock exchange rushed to the exits, sparking a stampede. The building houses several businesses and a bank, and hundreds of workers were trapped for several hours before being rescued by firefighters.
The Bombay Stock Exchange is an important nerve center of India's radical economic-liberalization drive, including rapid dismantling of import and foreign-investment barriers, slashing of tariffs and removing of licensing controls. The attack on the exchange is likely to hurt investor confidence.
Police said the massive blast at the Air-India building -- one of Bombay's best-known landmarks -- also was triggered by an explosives- laden car in its underground car parking area. The building overlooks the Arabian Sea at the city's famous Nariman Point.
At the Bank of Oman on the first floor of the Air-India building, 10 charred bodies were removed. Several fatalities also were reported at the government-owned Bank of Baroda at the stock exchange building.
Hundreds of firefighters were pressed into service at the stock exchange, Air-India and other blazing buildings in the city's bustling financial district, where a majority of the bombings were carried out.
Bombs exploded at a dozen other locales within an hour of the first blast, including at two markets, a building close to the police commissariat and aboard a city bus and a train. The unprecedented bombing campaign crippled activity in downtown districts as panic- stricken employees abandoned work and rushed home.
Indian Internal Security Minister Rajesh Pilot said security forces across the country have been alerted to deter new attacks.
The bombings are expected to further politically weaken Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao's 20-month-old minority government. Rao has been under growing attack for his failure to control rising domestic violence. His problems have been compounded by factional infighting in his governing Congress party.
India has the dubious distinction of having the world's highest incidence of terrorist violence. Dozens of underground separatist groups are waging hit-and-run terror campaigns in India.
Bombay recently was battered by a two-month wave of bloody Muslim- Hindu violence in which more than 800 people perished. The city, however, has traditionally been free of terrorist violence.
