India Goes on High Terror Alert

India went on high alert yesterday over fears of fresh serial bombing terror. Troops were mobilised after five more bombs were found and a terror group warned of new attacks. The country tightened security in all major cities and stepped up a nationwide hunt for the bombers who carried out the co-ordinated attacks in Ahmedabad and Bangalore, which killed almost 50 people and left more than 150 injured.

Security was especially high in the capital New Delhi after an Islamist group – in e-mail messages to news organisations – threatened to carry out more attacks in India.

The e-mail was sent by “Indian Mujahedeen” from a Yahoo account and was written in English.

Bomb squads defused at least three unexploded devices in Ahmedabad yesterday while investigators in Surat, a city south of Ahmedabad, found a car carrying detonators and a liquid that police suspect may be ammonium nitrate, a chemical often used in explosive devices. Another bomb was found in Bangalore.

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 on Saturday.

Many victims had been peppered with red-hot nuts, bolts and ball bearings packed into bombs designed to cause maximum casualties.