By Rupam Jain Nair
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - At least 16 small bombsexploded in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Saturday, killingat least 29 people and wounding 88, a day after another set ofblasts in the country's IT hub, officials said.
On Friday, eight bombs exploded in quick succession in thesouthern information technology city of Bangalore, killing atleast one person and wounding six others.
Saturday's blasts were in Ahmedabad's crowded old citydominated by its Muslim community. One was in a metal tiffinbox, used to carry food, another apparently left on a bicycle.
"The blasts occurred in 90 minutes, one in a hospital,others in the old city of Ahmedabad," Narendra Modi, thestate's Hindu-nationalist chief minister told reporters.
There were two separate series of bombings, the first nearbusy market places. A second quick succession of bombs went off20 to 25 minutes later around a hospital, where at least sixpeople died, police said.
Several TV channels said they had received an email from agroup called the "Indian Mujahideen" at the time of the blasts.The same group claimed responsibility for eight bombs thatkilled 63 people in the western city of Jaipur in May.
One television channel showed a bus with its side blown up,shattered windows and the roof half-destroyed. Another showed adead dog lying beside a blown-up bicycle.
"The bus had just started when the blast happened," P. KPathak, a retired insurance official who was travelling innearby bus, told Reuters.
"Many people standing on the exit door fell down. There wasfire and smoke all over. We got down from our bus and rushed tohelp them."
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.
ISLAMIST MILITANTS
Both states targeted in the bomb attacks are ruled by theHindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and are among thecountry's fastest-growing.
Suspicion is falling on Islamist militants intent ondestabilising India by fanning tensions between Hindus andMuslims, and police were deployed in Ahmedabad on Saturday tomaintain calm.
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, butIndia says it suspects militant groups from Pakistan andBangladesh are behind many of the attacks.
"The government had received a threat e-mail and we areprobing into it," local state government Home Minister AmitShah told Reuters.
So far, 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.
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.
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.
(Writing by Simon Denyer; Editing by Alistair Scrutton)
