India goes on high alert

Ahmedabad: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday viewed damage wreaked by bombings that killed 45 people and wounded 161 otheres in Ahmedabad.

Under heavy guard, the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi drove to hospital grounds to look at damaged buildings.

Gujarat police said they were interrogating a member of the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India in connection with the Ahmedabad attacks.

Indian police earlier raided the home of an American suspect, seizing a computer from which an e-mail claiming responsibility for the attack was believed to have been sent.

An underworld figure believed to have connections with banned Muslim groups was also arrested on Monday, Deputy Police Chieg Ashish Bhatia said on Monday.

India's major cities were put on high alert on Sunday, with fears of more attacks after at least 46 people were killed in two days of bombings.

At least 16 bombs exploded in Ahmedabad on Saturday, after another set of blasts in Bangalore. Two more unexploded bombs were found in the city of Surat on Sunday, one of the world's biggest diamond-polishing centres, located in Gujarat state, police said.

Authorities have detained 30 people as investigators in Surat found a car carrying detonators and a liquid that police suspect may be ammonium nitrate, a chemical often used in explosive devices, city police Chief R.M.S. Brar told reporters.

Another unexploded bomb was found and defused early Sunday, police officials said.

Indian leaders issued appeals for calm as the army was called out.

Flag march

"The army has been called in as a precautionary measure and its personnel are conducting flag marches," additional police commissioner Mohan Jha told reporters in Ahmedabad.

Federal detectives also joined police in the states in a nationwide hunt for the bombers. Security was especially high in the Indian capital New Delhi after a little known militant group - in email messages to news organisations - threatened to carry out more attacks.

"We have deployed an additional 3,000 personnel in the city to ensure foolproof security," New Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said.

Several other states also set in force security measures which included frisking, random checks of vehicles and road blocks on key highways, the ministry officials said.

National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan oversaw the measures, and police in several states said they were coordinating efforts to track down the bombers.