Bombs in Mumbai as India team parties - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Bombs in Mumbai as India team parties

27/09/2007 06:04:44 AM Comments (0)

Police found six unexploded bombs in a Mumbai suburb on Wednesday as thousands celebrated on the streets the return home of India's cricket team after winning the Twenty20 world title.

Captain Ricky Ponting's Australian team have arrived in Bangalore and are due to kick off a seven-match one-day series against India in Bangalore on Saturday.

Australia's eight-match tour will also include a one-off Twenty20 match at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium.

Two people were arrested on Wednesday, one near a railway station, said police, adding they were investigating whether the pair had links to any terror group.

Mumbai, India's financial capital which was shaken by a series of bombs targeting commuters in July 2006 that killed 186 people, was on high alert, police said.

Police did not directly link the festivities to the bombs which were recovered near suburban Andheri railway station, north of the airport and far away from the celebration route.

"These were live, crude home-made bombs... but not of high intensity," joint crime commissioner Rakesh Maria told reporters.

"Two people have been arrested in connection with this," Maria added.

"We're investigating whether they have links to any terror group," he said.

Police staged the arrests on a tipoff.

"We were told about a person carrying these crude bombs in a bag near a railway station. We seized him on the basis of his suspicious behaviour," Maria said.

He did not say where the second man was arrested.

Huge crowds turned out to welcome the team along a 30-kilometre route south from the airport to the Wankhede cricket stadium.

Serial bomb blasts also shook India's financial and entertainment capital Mumbai in 1993 killing 257 people.

The 1993 bombing campaign was allegedly organised by Mumbai's Muslim-dominated underworld in revenge for deadly Hindu-Muslim riots.

Analysts believe last year's bomb attack was aimed at fuelling tension between Hindus and Muslims by targeting first-class carriages to maximise casualties among wealthy Hindus.

Police have filed charges against 18 Indian nationals, five of whom allegedly planted the bombs, and 10 Pakistanis, who are reported to be on the run.

Indian police last year blamed the bombings on rival Pakistan's intelligence service and the outlawed pro-Pakistan militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, but the claim is not listed in any of the charges.

Islamabad rejected the allegations as "totally baseless".

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