Two more Mumbai suspects arrested

Investigators have arrested two more suspects in connection with the July 11 bombings on the Mumbai commuter rail network that claimed more than 200 lives, a television report said today.

The report from the private New Delhi Television channel said two men, one a Mumbai keymaker and the other from the nearby city of Pune, had been arrested. No details were given on how they were said to be connected to the blasts, which killed 207 people and wounded another 800.

NDTV identified the two as Jameer Ahmed from Mumbai, and Sohail Sheikh from Pune. Ahmed, the channel said, had been trained in Pakistan.

Four men have already been arrested in connection with the blasts, and police have said at least some are linked to Pakistan-based militant groups.

Police today refused to confirm that additional arrests had been made.

Meanwhile, India’s home minister Shivraj Patil said in Parliament that the government would recruit 300 new battalions of paramilitary forces, numbering nearly 180,000 men, to battle terrorism more effectively.

Patil als said that terrorists were greatly using the sea to enter India, and announced a new coastal police force would be created to help the Indian navy and coast guards protect the country’s vast coastline.

Patil rejected the opposition Hindu nationalist leader’s demand for the reintroduction of a tough terrorism law in India that would lay down stringent punishment and make it difficult for defendants to obtain bail.

Participating in the debate, Lal Krishna Advani, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government for repealing the Prevention Of Terrorism Act, known as POTA, that gave police sweeping powers to detain people for months without trial.

Home Minister Patil said the most objectionable provision of the POTA was that it shifted the onus of proof to defence from the prosecution, implying that an accused was required to prove his innocence.

Mumbai police have questioned hundreds of people over the past two weeks in connection with the carefully co-ordinated blasts, but have come under increasing pressure from lawmakers, the public and the media to crack the case.

Yesterday, police arrested a Mumbai-based practitioner of traditional Unani medicine, who they said was trained in Pakistan to make bombs.

The suspect, identified as Tanvir Ahmed Ansari, appeared in a Mumbai court, where the judge remanded him to police custody until August 4.

Officials have repeatedly said Islamic militants fighting Indian rule in its part of Kashmir – specifically the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba – were behind the blasts, and have said the attack is linked to Pakistan. Pakistan has denied any involvement.

Kashmir is a predominantly Muslim territory divided between India and Pakistan, but claimed by both nuclear-armed countries.