Charges Filed Against 2 in Bombay Terrorism Outbreak

Two men with long criminal records were formally charged Monday with direct involvement in planting several of the dozen bombs that exploded here last Friday, killing about 300 people. But the men escaped after a shootout when police tried to arrest them.

Bombay’s police commissioner, A. S. Samra, said the pair were identified by witnesses as being among those who checked into three luxury Bombay hotels on Thursday, provided fictitious addresses and then disappeared from rooms where bombs exploded Friday afternoon.

In the first claim of responsibility, a Sikh separatist group that has bombed many sites in the northern state of Punjab said Monday that it had set off the bombs in Bombay.

Samra told reporters the claim will be studied, but he said his mind remains open about who carried out the terrorist attacks. He reiterated his conviction, based on the kinds of explosives employed, that the bombers had received support from outside India.

Since Sunday, police officers said, they have found three more motor scooters around Bombay, each loaded with about 40 pounds of Semtex plastic explosives and chemical “pencil timer” delay detonation devices. The scooter bombs apparently failed to go off as scheduled Friday.

The two men accused Monday of involvement in the hotel bombings were identified as Mangesh Pawar, 26, and Piloo Khan, 30. Between them, the two have been arrested or convicted at least 18 times on charges including murder, attempted murder, kidnaping, extortion and narcotics trafficking.