13/7: The Day Terror Returned to Mumbai

What happened in Mumbai on July 13, 2011?

On Wednesday evening, three coordinated bomb explosions ripped through Mumbai between 6:54 and 7:06 pm — at Zaveri Bazaar, at Opera House, and at Kabutar Khana in Dadar West. The final toll: 26 people killed and 130 injured.

The blasts struck at rush hour, in some of the city's busiest commercial hubs. The Zaveri Bazaar device was planted on a motorcycle at Khau Gali; the Opera House bomb was hidden in a tiffin box outside the Prasad Chambers and Panchratna buildings; at Dadar, the device was placed near an electric pole at a bus stand. Improvised explosive devices were used at all three locations, and the Home Ministry quickly classified the strikes as terror attacks.

The timing carried its own cruelty: the blasts came just two days after the fifth anniversary of the July 11, 2006 Mumbai serial train bombings, which had killed at least 186 people.

How did the city respond?

NSG commandos and NIA teams were rushed to Mumbai. Security alerts went out in New Delhi, Kolkata, and other major cities. The injured were taken to JJ, GT, KEM, and St. George's hospitals, and Home Minister P. Chidambaram convened a high-level meeting in New Delhi.

Investigators suspected the hand of the Indian Mujahideen — co-founder Yasin Bhatkal was later linked to the attack — though no group claimed responsibility at the time.

Mumbai had been here before: 1993, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, and now 13/7. Each time, the city absorbed the blow and went back to work the next morning. The exchanges traded as normal the day after the blasts. That resilience has become Mumbai's most quoted trait — but it is worth remembering what it costs the families of the 26 who did not get to go home that evening.