At least 46 killed in Indian car bombs

9.00am

Mumbai - Two car bombs killed at least 46 people in the heart of India's financial capital, one ripping through a congested bullion market and a second exploding near a popular tourist attraction, police said.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the co-ordinated bomb attacks which also wounded 137 people.

But Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani said similar attacks in the past had been carried out by the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), acting alongside the Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant group Lashkar e-Taiba.

Pakistan, accused by India of harbouring Muslim radicals who stage attacks on its territory, condemned the blasts as "acts of terrorism". The attack coincided with a thaw in relations between the nuclear-armed rivals.

"There were legs and hands lying on top and inside my taxi. I had a miraculous escape," said taxi driver Lal Sahib Singh, whose clothes were soaked in blood. He had been driving past the bullion market when the bomb there exploded.

Most deaths were at the bullion market, which is near a Hindu temple. A second bomb exploded near the city's main tourist attraction, the Gateway of India, a huge waterfront archway built by India's British colonial rulers to commemorate the visit by King George V and Queen Mary in 1911.

State health minister Digvijay Khanvilkar told Reuters 46 people had been killed and 137 were wounded.

Police said the bombs had been planted in taxis.

"There were hands and legs flying in the air, blood everywhere," said Anil Punjabi, whose jewellery shop was next to the bullion market. "I saw some bodies were thrown 10 to 15 feet away from the blast site."

Bombay's key 30-share index closed down 2.92 per cent after the blasts, after earlier falling 4.4 per cent on the news.

Monday's attack was the worst in Bombay since 1993 when a series of bomb blasts killed at least 260 people. Those attacks were seen as retaliation for deaths of minority Muslim following Hindu-Muslim riots.

Indian police have long feared a similar reaction following riots in the western state of Gujarat in 2002 in which at least 1000 people, mostly Muslims, died.

The Bombay blasts follow an easing in tension between Pakistan and India, which came close to war last year following a December 2001 attack on India's federal parliament.

India blamed that and other attacks on Pakistan-based militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, its only Muslim-majority state. Pakistan denied involvement.

In Islamabad, Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan described the Bombay blasts as "acts of terrorism".

But Pakistan's stock market closed down nearly one per cent on concerns the blasts may disrupt the thaw in India-Pakistan ties.

The first bomb exploded around 1pm (190730 NZT) in the Jhaveri Bazaar, near the Mumbadevi Temple, followed within minutes by the blast at the Gateway of India. In both places, blood and broken glass lay on the ground.

Bombay has been hit by a series of bomb attacks in recent months. Three people died in December when a bomb exploded on a bus; 12 were killed in March by a bomb on a rush-hour train and in July, two people were killed in a fresh bomb attack on a bus.

"Earlier these blasts were in buses and in almost all cases the organisation involved has been SIMI and acting in conjunction with Lashkar e-Taiba," Advani told reporters, referring to the Students Islamic Movement of India.

The 1993 bombings followed Hindu-Muslim riots triggered by the destruction by Hindu zealots of a 16th century mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya. Hindu hardliners say the mosque was built on the site of a Hindu temple.

Since then, Ayodhya has been a lightning rod for tension.

Last year's violence in Gujarat state started after a Muslim mob torched a train carrying Hindu pilgrims back from Ayodhya.

Indian archaeologists, who have been excavating the site of the demolished mosque, said on Monday they had found evidence of a huge structure with features associated with Hindu temples.

- REUTERS