The bomb attacks!

The death toll from a series of bomb blasts in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad climbed to 45 as the provincial government ordered a probe along with federal agencies to search for suspects.

``Investigations with all the concerned agencies at the highest level is going on now,'' Jaynarayan Narmadasankar Vyas, health minister of the Gujarat state, said in a telephone interview from Ahmedabad today. ``The central and state intelligence agencies are coordinating in the probe.''

Terrorist attacks in Indian cities have killed more than 185 people in the past year as bombs strapped to bicycles or hidden under theater seats and near market stalls have targeted civilians. While the government typically blames foreign-trained terrorists, most of the attacks are unsolved.

The dead included three women and two children, N.R. Baraiya, an officer at the police control room in Ahmedabad, said in a telephone interview today. The toll from 16 serial blasts that rocked the city late yesterday mounted as people wounded in the attacks succumbed to injuries in hospitals, he said. City hospitals are treating more than 100 injured in the attacks.

The police are looking for suspects and there have been no arrests so far, Baraiya said. ``There were no untoward incidents overnight.''

The explosions, all within 20 minutes in commercial and residential areas of the city, came a day after seven bombs exploded in the southern city of Bangalore, killing at least two people. An unexploded bomb was defused by police after it was found near a downtown shopping mall yesterday.

`Linked Blasts'

``The blasts are all linked one way or the other -- whether it is Bangalore or Jaipur,'' Vyas said. The agencies probing the blasts will come to a conclusion soon.''

An Islamist group called the ``Indian Mujahideen'' claimed responsibility for the Gujarat attacks.. An e-mail was sent to various television stations and media outlets within minutes of the blasts, the news agency said.

Anti-terrorist squad raided two flats in western Indian city of Mumbai after the e-mail address of the sender was traced, private broadcaster CNN-IBN reperted on its Web site.

Blasts occurred in areas including Maninagar, Isanpur, Narol Circle, Bapunagar, Hatkeshwar, Sarangpur Bridge, Sarkej, Odhav, Sardar Patel market, Raipur, Gowribhadi, Ambur Tower Building and Juhapura, police spokesman Raman Bhai said yesterday.

Two bombs went off in Maninagar, and an explosion in Sarkej was centered on a passenger bus, PTI said. A bomb was recovered today from a garbage bin in the Hatkeshwar area of Ahmedabad, CNN-IBN reported. Police have detained 30 people, it said.

`Vicious Attacks'

The U.S. condemned the ``vicious terror attacks in Bangalore and Ahmedabad'' and extended its ``condolences to victims of these senseless attacks and to their families,'' the PTI said, according to a statement issued by the embassy in New Delhi.

Riot police marched on the streets of Ahmedabad today ``to maintain peace and communal harmony,'' G.K. Parmar, joint commissioner of police said in a telephone interview. ``They are marching in all the places where the blasts occurred.''

In 2002, a train fire in the town of Godhra in Gujarat state killed 59 people, mostly members of the Vishwa Hindu Council returning from Ayodhya after a ceremony, triggering religious riots in which almost 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.

Godhra Train Fire

The Gujarat state government was accused by political parties and human rights groups of not doing enough to protect minorities during the riots that followed the Godhra train fire. Modi's BJP government was subsequently returned to power in elections that took place in December 2002.

Pakistan prime minister, condemned the latest blasts in on government Web site.

The Bangalore blasts were the first attempted bombings in the southern Indian city, where unidentified gunmen opened fire on the campus of the Indian Institute of Science in December 2005, killing one scientist and injuring four.

As many as 60 people were killed in Jaipur two months ago in the nation's deadliest attack in more than a year. Nine bombs placed on bicycles injured more than 100 people.

Bomb explosions on suburban trains in Mumbai, India's financial hub and the Maharashtra capital, killed at least 182 people and injured more than 800 in July 2006, India's worst series of attacks in more than a decade.

``Such incidents will not deter the government from pursuing its policy of dealing with anti-national elements in a resolute manner,'' India's Home Minister, said at a televised press conference in New Delhi yesterday.