India on high alert
2008-07-27 15:55
New Delhi - India on Sunday went on high alert after weekend blasts in two major cities left dozens dead, deploying additional police at airports and rail stations, officials said.
Federal detectives also joined police in the states of Gujarat and Karnataka in a nationwide hunt for the bombers who carried out the co-ordinated attacks in Ahmedabad and Bangalore over the weekend, Home Ministry officials said.
Security was especially high in the Indian capital New Delhi after a little known Islamist group - in e-mail messages to news organisations - threatened to carry out more attacks in India.
"We have deployed an additional 3 000 personnel in the city to ensure foolproof security," New Delhi police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said as malls and theatres deployed private guards to screen visitors.
One woman died and eight others were hurt on Friday in nine explosions in Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka state. Sixteen blasts in the Gujarati city of Ahmedabad left 45 dead and more than 160 injured late Saturday.
Announced blasts before explosions
Bangalore is the hub of India's burgeoning outsourcing and IT industries, while Ahmedabad is a prosperous diamond- and textile-trading city that was rocked by deadly Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002.
The group which sent the e-mails - calling itself the "Indian Mujahedeen" - announced the blasts in Ahmedabad minutes before the actual explosions began and also warned of a repeat attack elsewhere in India.
Indian Home Secretary Shivraj Patil met his top security planners earlier on Sunday as several states - Bihar, Haryana, Kerala, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and insurgency-torn Kashmir - jacked up security.
Several other states also set in force security measures which included frisking, random checks of vehicles and road blocks on key highways, the ministry officials said.
India's National Security Advisor MK Narayanan oversaw the measures and police in several states said they were co-ordinating efforts to track down the bombers.