India steps up security after bus blast kills 4

A policemen speaks over a handset at the blast site where a local bus was ripped open after a crude bomb exploded at Ghatkopar in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai on Monday. Four people died and 35 were injured of whom five are in a critical condition. Photo: AFP

The bomb killed four people and left 42 injured as it shattered the rear of the bus in suburban Mumbai at Monday evening peak hour in an attack blamed on Islamic rebels.

"A high alert has been issued in Bombay as well as other parts of the state," Mumbai joint police commissioner Ahmad Javed said.

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"We have stepped up security at all the key areas and installations of the city and increased vehicular checking at various entry points of the city and the state."

He said investigations were continuing and forensic experts were analysing the explosives used in the attack.

The blast, the fifth in the city in the last eight months, has been blamed by officials on the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamic militant group known for fighting against Indian rule in disputed Kashmir state.

Lashker is one of the two Islamic rebel groups that New Delhi blames for the December 2001 militant attack on its parliament which left 15 people dead, including five attackers.

The state home minister Kripashankar Singh said additional police forces will be called in to boost security in the towns of Nashik and Trimbakeshwar, about 300 km north of Mumbai, where an ancient Hindu fair begins Wednesday.

More than five million people are expected to attend the fair over the next month, believed to be largest gathering of humankind anywhere in the world.

On Monday, the minister said nearly 10,000 policemen will stand guard during the fair in the two towns where Hindu pilgrims plunge into the river Godavari to take a holy bath.

The "Kumbh Mela" (Fair of the Nectar Pot), the holiest fair of the Hindus, is celebrated once every three years in rotation at four different places in the country. This time it is in these two western Indian towns.

It kicks off on Wednesday with a flag hoisting ceremony and will last for more than a month, with holy baths on August 17 and 27 and September 1 in Nashik, and August 12 and 27 and September 7 in Trimbakeshwar.

"If required additional forces will be called in. We have centre and state reserved forces, home guards and other similar manpower that will be called in as the situation demands," Singh said.