12 July 2006

BERLIN - Nations around the world including Germany rushed to condemn the train bombings in Mumbai that killed at least 183 people.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday in a message to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attacks.

"The appalling news of a series of attacks in your country with many dead and injured greatly affected me. The Federal Government of Germany emphatically condemns these terrorist acts," Merkel said.

The chancellor also extended her condolences to the victims of the attacks on Mumbai's rail network and their families.

India's neighbour Pakistan also condemned the attacks. "This despicable act of terrorism has resulted in the loss of a large number of precious lives," said a statement released by Pakistan's Foreign Ministry. "Terrorism is a bane of our times, and it must be condemned, rejected and countered effectively and comprehensively."

In the past, however, India has accused Pakistan of supporting militancy in its part of Kashmir and a group suspected in the series of seven explosions that rocked commuter trains in Mumbai during Tuesday evening's rush hour was the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba, which means Army of the Pure.

But Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz condemned the blast and expressed condolences over the deaths, the Foreign Ministry statement said.

India ally the United States also expressed outrage over the attacks, which killed at least 183 people and injured 714.

"Such acts only strengthen the resolve of the international community to stand united against terrorism and to declare unequivocally that there is no justification for the vicious murder of innocent people," President George W Bush - who declared a war on terrorism after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States - said in a statement.

The US State Department called the blasts "senseless acts of violence designed to strike at those innocent people who are just going about their daily lives."

New York City, a target in the 2001 attacks, also reacted to the Mumbai bombings by increasing security in the city's transit system in what was termed a precautionary measure.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the Mumbai bombings as well as Tuesday's grenade attacks that killed at least seven people in Srinagar, the capital of India-administered Kashmir "serve only to reaffirm that terrorism constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and to increase the urgency of coordinated action by all countries to defeat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, whenever, wherever and for whatever purpose."

The European Union expressed sympathy for the bereaved, a speedy recovery to the injured and indignation toward the perpetrators.

In a statement issued by Finland, the current holder of the rotating EU president, the union said it was "important that those responsible for these barbarous acts of terrorism will be brought to justice. There can never be justification for such heinous attacks on innocent civilians."

In Britain, another country that has been the victim of terrorism, Prime Minister Tony Blair called the attacks "brutal and shameful" and added that Britain stood united with India in "our shared determination to defeat terrorism in all its forms".

In South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki said in a message to his Indian counterpart, APJ Abdul Kalam: "The government and people of South Africa join the international community in expressing its outrage at the blasts in Mumbai."

In Jordan, King Abdullah II on Wednesday denounced them as "shameful criminal acts." New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters described them as "cowardly" while Australia offered India forensic and intelligence help in investigating the blasts.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said in a statement that he was "shocked" to learn of the blasts and called the attacks "unjustified for whatever reason."

The reaction by stock markets to the blasts in India's financial capital were mixed as investors had financial data to also take into account.

After taking a dip immediately after opening, India's Sensitive Index climbed 2.2 per cent, helped by a better-than-expected earnings report from information-technology giant Infosys Technologies Ltd.

However, the attacks contributed to a decline on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where the Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 1.5 per cent. Benchmark indices also fell in South Korea, China, Taiwan and the Philippines.

DPA

Subject: German news