Bombay alert after bus bombs

Police in Bombay are setting up a rapid reaction force a day after a bomb on a city bus killed two people and injured about 30 others.

State Home Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said the team would be made up of crack commandos who could respond at short notice to emergencies in India's main commercial city.

Security has been tightened across Bombay, also known as Mumbai, and other sensitive areas in Maharashtra state following the attack.

No group has said it carried out Monday's bombing near a crowded railway station in the central area of Ghatkopar.

According to Mr Bhujbal, police have orders to stop and search people at random at bus depots, railway stations, shopping malls and places of worship.

The situtation is especially sensitive as the 10th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri mosque Ayodhya by Hindu activists falls on Friday.

Although the authorities do not wish to link Monday's blast with the anniversary, they are taking no chances.

Timing

Meanwhile, a team of bomb experts has been sent to Bombay to investigate the type of explosives used in the blast.

Late on Monday night, Bombay police defused a second bomb on a city bus in the northern suburb of Andheri.

Officers were carrying out a massive search operation of all city buses at the time.

Bombay was the scene of a series of bomb blasts in March 1993 which killed more than 250 people.

They were allegedly masterminded by the city mafia in retaliation for the demolition of the Babri mosque.

Bombay was badly hit by the communal violence between Hindus and Muslims which followed.