The first device was planted at Khau Gali in south Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar and exploded at 18:54 local time; the second device, planted under an umbrella – the attacks occurred on a day of rain during the monsoon season – at the Opera House, near Charni Road, exploded at 18:55. The third device was placed on an electric pole at a Kabutar Khana bus stand in the Dadar area and exploded at 19:05.
Zaveri Bazaar, which is near the Mumba Devi Temple, was one of the scenes of the twin bombings in 2003 that killed 54 people.
Following the blasts, phone lines were jammed and communications were ceased or intermittent for at least a few hours. Other metropolitan cities like Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore were also put on high alert.Immediately after the blasts, theMumbai Police sent an SMS reading "Bomb blasts reported at Zaveri Bazaar, Dadar. Please be careful. Stay indoors. Watch news channels." to a few mobile phone users in Mumbai. Most of the injured were rushed to various hospitals in Mumbai, such as J.J. Hospital, St. George's Hospital, Harikishandas Hospital and G.T. Hospital.
Mumbai has been hit by terrorist incidents at least half a dozen times since the early 1990's, with over 600 people dying in these attacks. In an editorial, the Times of India described the city as having become a "hot hunting ground for terror."
Following the blasts, Boeing announced that the Boeing-787 Dreamliner, which was on its maiden visit to India, would skip the Mumbai leg of the trip. An official said that it would have been insensitive to take the plane to Mumbai at this time when such a tragedy had occurred and that the decision had also been taken in view of security concerns and so as not to put added pressure to provide extra cover for the aircraft.