Indian police detained about 350 people in connection with the Mumbai train bombings, as the government vowed yesterday to wipe out terrorism and catch those behind the carnage that left 200 people dead.

 

The detentions came as a man claiming to represent al-Qaida reportedly claimed yesterday that the terror network had set up a wing in Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan where Muslim militants are fighting for independence.

 

There was no way to immediately verify the claim, which if true would be the first time Osama bin Laden's network has claimed to have spread to Indian territory.

 

Also yesterday, the government issued a statement after a cabinet meeting, saying it is committed to combating terrorism in the wake of the eight explosions on Tuesday in Mumbai's commuter train network. At least 200 people were killed and more than 700 injured.

 

"Nothing will deter us from our firm policy to fight this menace till it is wiped out. We are determined to apprehend and bring to justice all those responsible for the evil acts in Mumbai," said a cabinet statement. Mumbai is also known as Bombay.

 

Most of the 350 detentions were made overnight in Malwani, a northeastern suburb of Mumbai, said police Inspector S. Goshal. He said none of them has been formally arrested or charged, and they were rounded up only for questioning to help with the investigations.

 

Mumbai police Commissioner A.N. Roy confirmed a large number of people were detained but refused to give an exact figure. He said those rounded up include known thugs, gangsters and troublemakers, who might have information about the culprits.

 

Kashmir's Current News Service reported that it received a telephone call from a man who identified himself as Abu al-Hadeed, an Arabic name. The man, however, spoke in Urdu, the language of most Muslims in the Indian subcontinent.

 

The news service, based in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, reported that the man said: "Today a unit of al-Qaida has been established in Jammu and Kashmir which shall henceforth be called al-Qaida Jammu and Kashmir."

 

The man also praised the Bombay bombings. "Whosoever has carried out the attacks in Bombay we express our gratitude and happiness," the man reportedly said, and also appealed to Indian Muslims to take up jihad against the Indian government.

 

Jihad in Arabic means struggle spiritual or physical but in recent years it has come to imply armed struggle by Muslims.

 

On Wednesday, the police chief of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, said investigators were looking into a possible link with Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, an Islamic militant group based in Kashmir.

 

"It is difficult to say definitely at this stage, but Lashkar-e-Tayyaba can be involved going by the style of attack," said P.S. Pasricha, the director-general of police for Maharashtra.

 

Lashkar has in the past employed near-simultaneous explosions to attack Indian cities. A spokesman for Lashkar, Abdullah Ghaznavi, denied the group was involved.

 

The Indian Foreign Ministry demanded on Wednesday that neighboring rival Pakistan dismantle all terrorist networks on land it controls but fell short of directly accusing it for the attacks.

 

Kashmir, claimed by both countries, lies at the heart of their decades-long dispute. The region is largely Muslim, and the militants want a Kashmir independent of India, which is mostly Hindu, or joined to overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan.

 

In an interview with The Associated Press in Washington, Pakistan's foreign minister bristled at suggestions that his country bore responsibility for the attacks.

 

"You can't really blame everything on Pakistan; it's very unfair," Khurshid Kasuri said. "India is a vast country. There are lots of people who have their own agendas, not just in Kashmir."

 

Yesterday, Mumbai, a city of 16 million people, was back on track with tens of thousands of people jamming the commuter train service that had been hit by eight bombs, which killed at least 200 people and wounded more than 700.

 

A journalist traveling on the city's suburban trains saw commuters checking under seats and keeping an eye on bags and even asking passengers to identify their luggage.

 

"Suspect everyone and look for a potential bomber," Diwakar, a 47-year-old lawyer, told fellow passengers on a train to downtown Mumbai yesterday.

 

(China Daily July 14, 2006)