Indian police probe blast leads

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Investigators pursued leads on Monday from materials used to make bombs that killed 40 people in a southern Indian city, as a strike called by Hindu nationalists to protest against the attacks shut shops and schools.

The twin blasts late on Saturday in Hyderabad, an emerging information technology centre, wounded about 80 people and authorities suspect Islamist militant groups based in Pakistan or Bangladesh.

No arrests have been made so far, but city police chief Balwinder Singh said some people had been questioned.

He said a chemical substance called "neogel" had been used to make the bombs.

"It is used for blasting and mining purposes. It is produced under restriction in Nagpur," he said, referring to the central Indian city in the neighboring state of Maharashtra, which is about 350 km (220 miles) north of Hyderabad.

Investigators were tracing the source of the pellets and were also likely to send a team to Nagpur to find out how the restricted explosives reached Hyderabad, police said.

But some locals said the explosives were freely available to those involved in the mining industry in the hinterland.

Police also stepped up security across the city of seven million people on Monday and forces in riot gear were deployed as a general strike called by the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took hold.

Muslims make up around 30 percent of Hyderabad's population and the city is considered sensitive to religious tensions.

In May, a bombing at a historic mosque in the old quarter of Hyderabad killed 11 and five more were shot dead by police in the Muslim rioting that followed.

"HUB OF EXTREMISM"

Most shops, businesses and private schools and colleges across the city were closed but traffic appeared normal and government offices were open.

"We support the strike because we are opposed to terrorism," said Shailesh Singhi, an electrical products shop owner.

"I do not belong to any party but it is important to send a message that we are against terrorism. If we don't protest they will do it again and it could be me or you who could die."

Some businessmen said they had shut up shop as they feared violence.

"We want to tell the state government that it is soft on terrorism and we strongly oppose this," Bandaru Dattatreya, the BJP's regional chief, told Reuters. "Hyderabad today has become a hub of extremism."

The edgy city also reported six bomb hoaxes on Monday, including one at the high-security chief minister's office complex, officials said.

Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh of which Hyderabad is the capital, said the bombings could have been the work of Islamist militants based in Pakistan or Bangladesh, but has given no details.

Both Islamabad and Dhaka rejected the idea, saying Reddy was jumping to conclusions without evidence.

India has been frequently hit by bomb blasts in recent years and intelligence agencies and security analysts say Islamist militant groups in Pakistan -- fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir -- have been using local Muslims to launch attacks.

But investigators have released little conclusive evidence to establish any cross-border links.

The latest attacks showed that security agencies had learnt little from previous incidents, the Hindustan Times newspaper said in an editorial.

"One country that has known terrorist violence for decades is India. One country that constantly fails to do anything about preventing the next terrorist violence is also India," it said.

"Apart from swiftly laying the blame on some dangerous corner of a foreign field ... what else have the men whose job it is to provide Indians safety from terrorist attacks done?"

"Very, very little."