India's 'diamond' city rocked by bomb discovery

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- As the state of Gujarat limped toward normalcy after synchronized bombings killed 49 people last weekend, residents were rattled again by the discovery of 18 unexploded bombs Tuesday and another Wednesday.

The live explosives were discovered in the city of Surat, about 158 miles (255 km) south of Ahmedabad, where 17 low-intensity blasts went off within a span of 70 minutes Saturday night.

The blasts happened within a 6-mile (10-km) radius, killing at least 49 and wounding more than 100.

Two separate Islamic militant groups claimed responsibility for the attack.

Surat and Ahmedabad are in Gujarat in western India. The former is known as the "diamond city" because many of the world's diamonds are cut and polished there. The latter is a major industrial and financial hub.

"They have cast a web of terror throughout the country to weaken India," Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi told reporters Wednesday during a visit to Surat. "This is a part of a conspiracy to attack India's economic centers."

Some of the unexploded bombs in Surat were discovered near the city's main diamond markets. Another was found outside a shopping center while Modi was touring the city.

Wednesday's discovery brings to 25 the number of live bombs found in the city since the Ahmedabad blast, police said.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the weekend blasts have taken investigators to a suburb in Mumbai, about 338 miles (545 km) away.

Authorities said four cars -- two used in Saturday's blast and two found in Surat Tuesday -- were stolen from the suburb of the city of Navi Mumbai.

Also, authorities traced an e-mail claiming responsibility for the blasts to an apartment rented by an American in Navi Mumbai.

Police questioned and released the man after determining that someone had hacked his wireless Internet connection, the man's employer, Campbell White Electrical Training Private Ltd., said in a statement.

Several media outlets, including CNN-IBN, and the country's Intelligence Bureau received an e-mail, purportedly from the Muslim militant group Indian Mujahedeen, warning about a possible attack.

But afterward, the Islamic militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJi) -- or the Movement of the Islamic Holy War -- claimed responsibility for the bombings, CNN-IBN said.

Cross-pollination among various terror groups makes it difficult to separate them, analysts say.

Authorities do not yet know the motive for the Ahmedabad blasts. In the past, they have blamed similar attacks on Islamic militants intent on fomenting unrest between the country's Hindu majority and Muslim minority.

-- CNN's Bharati Naik in New Delhi and Saeed Ahmed in Atlanta contributed to this report

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