The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Ahmedabad

Police found ten unexploded bombs in the western Indian city of Surat, one of the world's biggest diamond-polishing centers, on Tuesday, three days after a series of bombs in the same state killed 45 people.

"We have defused seven bombs and (are) working on three more," senior police official H.P. Singh told Reuters.

He said the bombs were all found in one of Surat city's most crowded neighborhoods, but gave no details about the nature of the explosives or who could have placed them.

A series of 16 bombs ripped through the nearby city of Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat on Saturday, a day after bombs killed one woman in the IT hub of Bangalore.

A group called the "Indian Mujahideen" said it carried out the Ahmedabad attack, writing in an e-mail sent five minutes before the first blast that it was in revenge for a 2002 massacre in Gujarat of around 2,500 people, mainly Muslims, by Hindu mobs. On Sunday, two unexploded car bombs were also found by police in Surat.

Meanwhile, India's prime minister vowed Monday his government would "defeat" those behind a weekend bombing wave in two major cities, as the country feared more attacks by a shadowy Islamist group.

Bombs ripped through 16 crowded places in Ahmedabad, the commercial hub of western Gujarat state, on Saturday, killing 49 people and injuring more than 160. The targets included markets, buses and hospitals treating the victims.

The Gujarat attacks, claimed by a little-known group calling itself the "Indian Mujahedeen," came the day after a string of bombs went off in the southern tech city of Bangalore, leaving one dead and eight injured.

"We will rise to the challenge and I am confident we will be able to defeat these forces," Singh told reporters after visiting a bombed hospital in Ahmedabad and meeting victims of the attacks.

He urged all political parties, the state and central governments, and security forces to cooperate in the hunt for those responsible.