India blasts kill 45 as obscure Islamic group claims blame

AN obscure Islamic group claimed responsibility for a series of synchronised explosions that killed at least 45 people in western India, warning of “the terror of Death” in an email sent to several television stations minutes before the blasts.

Another unexploded bomb was found and defused early yesterday, said the city’s police commissioner, OP Mathur. He said police had detained 30 people.

“In the name of Allah the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death!” said an email from the group sent to several Indian television stations minutes before the blasts began. The email’s subject line said “Await 5 minutes for the revenge of Gujarat”, an apparent reference to 2002 riots in the western state which killed 1,000 people. The email was made available to AP by CNN-IBN, one of the TV stations that received the warning.