India on Red Alert After Bomb Attacks

Cities across India were placed on high alert today with the army called out to patrol "sensitive areas" after a wave of bombings saw 46 people die over two days.

More than 16 bombs exploded in the west Indian city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat on Saturday, which killed 45 people and left 161 wounded. A day earlier, a string of bombs exploded in Bangalore, India's hi-tech capital, killing one woman.

Police found two unexploded devices in Ahmedabad and also defused two bombs in the Surat district of Gujarat today. More than 30 people were rounded up in a series of raids, ahead of a visit to the scene of the blasts by the Indian prime minister today.

The bombings in Ahmedabad centred on two distinct areas. The first series of devices exploded in crowded market places in the old part of the city – home to a large Muslim community.

The second string of blasts, which went off 20 minutes later, targeted a hospital – killing six people including doctors. Television news channels showed pictures of victims writhing in pain and covered in blood on hospital floors.

Some eyewitnesses said the blast was powerful enough to throw a car into the air. "All I saw was a Maruti (hatchback car) flying up in the air and landing with a thud," Pavan Purohit told the Indian Express.

A group known as "Indian Mujahideen", seemingly dedicated to fomenting violence between India's Hindu majority and Muslim minority, claimed responsibility for the Ahmedabad attack. The same group said it carried out bomb attacks that killed 63 people in the western city of Jaipur in May.

Like the Jaipur attacks, police in Gujarat say most of the devices were crude. Many of the bombs were packed into metal tiffin boxes, used to carry food, and stuffed with ball bearings. Some were left on bicycles.

Gujarat's state government ordered the closure of all shops, cinemas and markets. Ahmedabad is the main city in Gujarat, scene of deadly riots in 2002 in which 2,500 people are thought to have died, most of them Muslims killed by rampaging Hindu mobs.

The state's chief minister Narendra Modi is seen as a rising leader in the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party – but was also accused of turning a blind eye to the violence against Muslims.

In an email purportedly sent by the Indian Mujahideen after the Jaipur blasts, Modi was mentioned as giving "orders to kill Muslims". Violence, the email stated, is a means to "to clearly give our message to Kaffir-e-Hind [the infidels of India] that if Islam and Muslims in this country are not safe then the light of your safety will also go off very soon".