Mumbai Blast 2011: Government Compensates Victims

Three bombs were detonated in Mumbai, India on Wednesday, leaving 17 confirmed dead and more than one hundred injured.

A devastated Indian government has pledged to pay reparations to the families of victims and to cover medical costs for those seriously injured.

Chief Minister of the Maharashtra state Prithviraj Chavan said Thursday that authorities will give 500,000 rupees ($11,230) for the deceased, and 50,000 rupees for the hospital bills of the wounded.

Indian police held an emergency security meeting after the explosions. The bombing was quickly deemed a terrorist act, the first in the city since 2008.

Whoever has perpetrated this attack has worked in a very, very clandestine manner, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said at a news conference.

We are not pointing a finger at this stage, Chidambaram said. We have to look at every possible hostile group and find out whether they are behind the blast.

On Wednesday afternoon, three explosive devices were detonated during rush hour in heavily populated areas of Mumbai, including a jewelry market and the area surrounding the Opera House.

The bombing marked the second militant bombing in India in less than one week. On Sunday, a train bomb in the northern city of Assam injured 100 people. The explosive was planted on the tracks of the local commuter rail, derailing a train.

Indian authorities arrested two members of the Adivasi People's Army rebel group on Wednesday in connection with the Assamese attack.

The rebel group claims to represent a 500,000-person tribal community near Assam, and is likely unrelated to the Mumbai bombings, although no details have been released.