Wednesday, July 12 2006 14:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Initial probe into the serial blasts in suburban trains has revealed that the explosions were probably timed to trigger off at 6:15 pm and the explosive devices could have been loaded at Churchgate station, police said today (July 12, 2006).

All the seven blasts that took place aboard suburban trains on Western Railway line took place between 6 p.m. And 6:30 p.m. Yesterday and the pattern that has been derived by police is that all took place on north-bound slow and fast trains that originated from Churchgate station.

Mumbai Crime Branch sources told sources. that going by the previous experiences of the train blasts in Mumbai, it was likely that the explosive devices were loaded at Churchgate station and were fitted with commonly used mechanical timers set to explode at 6:15 pm.

"The perpetrators wanted to create an atmosphere of terror and knew that triggering simultaneous blasts in various parts of the city would serve the purpose," a senior crime branch official said, adding the suspects may have disembarked from the trains at stations immediately after Churchgate.

Meanwhile, police suspect that a new module of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit that may have penetrated into Mumbai recently, could be responsible for yesterday's serial bomb blasts that killed over 190 people and left over 600 injured.

Mumbai crime branch officials, who probed the blasts conducted by Lashkar in Mumbai in 2002 and 2003, told sources that the entire LeT module involved in the those blasts had been exposed.

"Two to three LeT operatives from the module, who are absconding, do not seem to be involved in yesterday's blasts," they said.