Hundreds Detained Over Mumbai Bombings

Indian detectives searching for the Mumbai train bombers who killed more than 200 commuters have detained about 350 people for questioning.

Mumbai police said those rounded up included known thugs, gangsters and trouble makers, who might have information about the bombers. Most of the detentions were made overnight in Malwani, a north-eastern suburb of India's business capital, a police spokesman said.

He added that none of them has been formally arrested or charged, and they were brought in only for questioning to help with the investigations into Tuesday's serial bombings.

Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, is expected to visit the city tomorrow for an assessment of the investigations into the bomb blasts, which officials say could have been carried out by Kashmiri militants.

In New Delhi, Mr Singh's cabinet today issued a statement underlining the government's commitment to combating terrorism.

"Nothing will deter us from our firm policy to fight this menace till it is wiped out. We are determined to apprehend and bring to justice all those responsible for the evil acts in Mumbai," it said.

The detentions came a day after the police chief of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, said investigators were looking into a possible link with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), one of the several Kashmiri militant groups fighting for independence from India for the Himalayan region.

"It is difficult to say definitely at this stage, but Lashkar-e-Taiba can be involved going by the style of attack," said PS Pasricha.

LeT has in the past employed near-simultaneous explosions to attack Indian cities. A spokesman for LeT, Abdullah Ghaznavi, denied the group was involved, saying in a statement that "Indian security forces blame Lashkar in an attempt to defame the Kashmir freedom struggle".

Tens of thousands of people were today once again cramming into the commuter train services that were targeted by eight bombs, which killed at least 200 people and wounded more than 700.

"The city has faced attacks in the past. It has always bounced back quickly ... people have to go to work. What else are we going to do?" said Ashwini Lolo, an office worker, as he waited to board a train at Bandra.

The Indian foreign ministry demanded yesterday that Pakistan dismantle all terrorist networks on land it controls, but fell short of directly accusing it for the attacks.

Kashmir - the Himalayan region divided between the two neighbours but claimed by both - lies at the heart of their decades-long dispute.

The region is largely Muslim, and the militants want a Kashmir independent of India, which is mostly Hindu, or joined to overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan. Pakistan has rejected as "baseless" claims that terrorists maintained an infrastructure on its soil.