Investigators scoured Ahmedabad on Sunday, detaining 30 people for questioning in the city that saw 16 bombs blasts around dusk on Saturday, the city's police commissioner OP Mathur said. Little-known Islamic militant group the Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility in an e-mail to a television channel, warning of "the terror of death" and taking credit for the synchronised bombings that killed at least 45 people in a second series of blasts in India in two days. The group claimed the attacks were in retaliation for rioting in 2002.
Police also found and defused an unexploded bomb. Investigators in Surat, a city about 160 miles south of Ahmedabad, found a car carrying detonators and liquid police suspect may be ammonium nitrate, a chemical often used in explosive devices, city police Chief RMS. Brar told reporters.
Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat state where Ahmedabad is located, said the bombings appeared to have been masterminded by a group or groups who "are using a similar modus operandi all over the country". India has been hit repeatedly by bombings in recent years. Nearly all have been blamed on militants who allegedly want to provoke violence between India's Hindu majority and Muslim minority, although officials rarely offer hard evidence implicating a specific group.