Below The Beltway

Though its certainly possible this was an accident, the train explosions in India have all the marks of a terror attack:

NEW DELHI, July 11 — At least 100 people were killed and scores of others were injured in a series of bomb blasts that rocked the commuter rail network in Bombay, India’s financial capital, during the evening rush hour Tuesday.

Law enforcement officials reported that explosions ripped trough first-class train compartments on seven trains, the state-run Press Trust of India reported.

The death toll appeared likely to climb as rescuers combed through the wreckage.

The Indian government certainly thinks it was terrorism:

Airports across India were also put on high alert, and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh called an emergency meeting of his ministers after the explosions.

Singh issued a statement calling the attacks a “shameful act” and urged the people of his country to “remain calm, not to believe rumors, and to carry on their activity.”

(…)

Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said the government had some advance knowledge that such an attack might take place, but “what we didn’t have was the place and the time.”

Michelle Malkin, of course, is all over this story:

9/11. 3/11. Now 7/11?

And The Counterterrorism Blog makes this point:

The attacks are reminiscent of the 3/11 strikes on Madrid’s railway system, as there are multiple bombs detonated nearly simultaneously during a heavy travel period, with the purpose of inflicting mass-casualties.

And Captain Ed makes this observation:

This has all the earmarks of an AQ operation. They attacked the transportation system, concentrating their biggest efforts in Mumbai, India’s financial center. The terrorists targeted their attacks to maximize civilian deaths. Similarities between these attacks and the London subway bombings are apparent and apposite.

What motivated AQ to go after India? It’s hardly the first country one associates with the West, and many Muslims live within the majority-Hindu nation. However, India’s outreach to Pakistan to resolve the conflict in the Kashmir threatens to end one of the major provocations that incites Muslims to jihad in the region. It also tends to prop up Pervez Musharraf, a man they have tried twice to assassinate. India’s troubles with religious sectarianism (especially with Muslims) go back centuries, of course, and the historical irritants would have been enough for them in any event.

More, I am sure, to come.