By Rupam Jain Nair
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - At least seven small bombsexploded in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Saturday,killing at least two people and wounding 55, just a day afteranother set of blasts in the country's southern IT hub,officials said.
On Friday, eight bombs exploded in quick succession in thesouthern IT city of Bangalore, killing at least one person andwounding six others.
Saturday's blasts were in the Ahmedabad's crowded old citydominated by its Muslim community. One was left in a metaltiffin box, used to carry food, another apparently left on abicycle.
"We have been told of seven to eight blasts," the centralgovernment's junior home minister Shriprakash Jaiswal told theSahara news channel.
"These were low-intensity bombs," he said. "This has beendone by some terrorist group which wants to destabilise thecountry."
Another junior home minister, Shakeel Ahmad said at leasttwo people had been killed and 55 wounded and taken tohospital.
"The government had received a threat e-mail and we areprobing into it," local state government Home Minister AmitShahe told Reuters.
One television channel showed a bus with its side blown up,shattered windows and the roof half-destroyed. Another showed adead dog, with blood nearby, lying beside a blownup bicycle.
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 states targeted in the bomb attacks are ruled by theHindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and are among thecountry's fastest-growing.
Suspicion is already falling on Islamist militants intenton destabilising India by fanning tensions between Hindus andMuslims, and police were swiftly deployed in Ahmedabad onSaturday to maintain calm.
INVESTIGATIONS IN BANGALORE
So far though, police say they have few leads into Friday'sBangalore bombings.
On Saturday, another unexploded bomb was found near ashopping mall in Bangalore, but it was unclear whether the bombwas newly planted or meant to have exploded during Friday'sattacks, police said.
"Special squads have been formed to find out who is behindthe blasts. We have not got any conclusive leads yet,"Bangalore's Additional Commissioner of Police M.R. Pujar toldReuters on Saturday.
India has suffered a wave of bombings in recent years, withtargets ranging from mosques and Hindu temples to trains.
It is unusual for any group to claim responsibility forattacks, but India says it suspects militant groups fromneighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh of helping to plan andcarry out many of the attacks.
India's home ministry said on Friday it suspected "a smallmilitant group" was behind the Bangalore attacks, while somepolice officials said they suspected the blasts could be thework of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India.
Some major IT companies in Bangalore, known as India'sSilicon Valley, said they were increasing security at theiroffices after bombs went off there. Each bomb had a similarexplosive force to one or two grenades.
The city is one of the world's most prominent centres forsoftware development and is also home to a major outsourcingindustry.
"We have increased security in our campus," said aspokeswoman for Infosys, one of India's leading softwarecompanies.
Also nicknamed the "world's back office", Bangalore hasmore than 1,500 top firms, including Infosys, Wipro and theoffices of global firms such as Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp.
"If such incidents continue, investors will fly away fromthe city," said state opposition politician MallikharjunaKharge, who called for improved security in the city.
In May, eight bombs, many strapped to bicycles, rippedthrough a crowded shopping area in the western city of Jaipur,killing at least 63 people and injuring hundreds more.
(Writing by Simon Denyer; Editing by Alistair Scrutton)
