India on alert after two days of bombings

NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) - India's major cities were puton high alert on Sunday, with fears of more attacks after atleast 40 people were killed in two days of bombings that hit acommunally-sensitive western city and a southern IT hub

At least 16 small bombs exploded in the Indian city ofAhmedabad on Saturday, killing at least 39 people and wounding110, a day after another set of blasts in Bangalore killed awoman.

A little known group called the "Indian Mujahideen" claimedresponsibility for the Ahmedabad attack on Saturday. The samegroup said it carried out bombs attacks that killed 63 peoplein the western city of Jaipur in May.

It is unusual for any group to claim responsibility, butIndia says it suspects militant groups from Pakistan andBangladesh are behind a wave of bombings in recent years, withtargets ranging from mosques and Hindu temples to trains.

"The entire nation, including major metro cities in Indiahave been put on high alert and they have been asked to step upsecurity in vital installations," a home ministry spokesmansaid.

In New Delhi, police used loudspeakers and distributedleaflets in crowded market places, warning people to watch outfor unclaimed baggage and suspicious objects. Police guardedHindu temples in the eastern city of Kolkata.

There were two separate series of bombings in Ahmedadad,the first near busy market places. A second quick succession ofbombs went off 20 to 25 minutes later around a hospital, whereat least six people died, police said. All were detonated withtimers.

"I came with my two children to cheer up my mother admittedto hospital," said Pankaj Patel, whose son Rohan and daughterPratha were killed at Ahmedadad hospital. "They were laughingwhen the blast occurred. Now they are dead."

Two doctors were killed in the hospital in a blast in whichat least one bomb was tied onto a gas cylinder. Charredmotorcycles and bicycles were shown outside. TV showed victimswrithing in pain and covered in blood on hospital floors.

The other bombs were in Ahmedabad's crowded old citydominated by its Muslim community. Many were packed into metaltiffin boxes, used to carry food, and packed withball-bearings. Some were left on bicycles.

Police found three other unexploded bombs in Ahmedabad onSunday, local media said.

Ahmedabad is the main city in the communally sensitive andrelatively wealthy western state of Gujarat, scene of deadlyriots in 2002 in which 2,500 people are thought to have died,most of them Muslims killed by rampaging Hindu mobs.

Both Ahmedabad and Bangalore are in states ruled by theHindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and are among thecountry's fastest-growing.

Gujarat's Chief Minister Narendra Modi is one of India'smost controversial politicians, accused of turning a blind eyeto the Gujarat riots.

MUSLIM BACKLASH?

Some analysts say there is evidence of local Muslim groups,for years seen as unaffected by the rise of global Islamistmilitancy, of taking up violence against India, where they area poor and often neglected minority. They may be gettingtraining and financial backing from Pakistan or Bangladesh.

"Over the last few years, the dissatisfaction among IndianMuslims has hitched onto the wagon of the global/regionaljihad," said C. Uday Bhaskar, a security analyst and formerdirector of New Delhi's Institute for Defence Studies andAnalyses.

"If you have 150 million Muslims in India, only 0.0001percent of that figure would mean a militant nucleus of 15,000people."

Police raided one house in Mumbai where they believee-mails from the Indian Mujahideen were linked, local mediareported.

India's home ministry said on Friday it suspected "a smallmilitant group" was behind the Bangalore attacks, while somepolice officials suspected the blasts could be the work of thebanned Students Islamic Movement of India.

Some IT companies in Bangalore, known as India's SiliconValley, were increasing security after bombs went off there.Each bomb had a similar explosive force to one or two grenades.

The city is a prominent software development centre and isalso home to a major outsourcing industry.

(Additional reporting by Rupam Jain Nair in Ahmedabad;Editing by Bill Tarrant)