Bomb found on train in eastern India

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - Indian police defused a bomb found on a train in the eastern city of Kolkata on Monday, police said, three days after a blast at a mosque killed 11 people in the south of the country.

The train was headed for Tarakeshwar, a Hindu holy town, about two hours west of Kolkata. The bomb was found during a routine security check minutes before the train was about to leave the city's Howrah station.

"We have identified it as an improvised explosive device and our bomb squad has separated it," said Amar Kanti Sarkar, a top railway police officer.

Security was stepped up across Kolkata, particularly at train and bus stations, police and witnesses said. Extra forces were deployed and passengers and rail cars were being checked closely, they said.

Warnings were being issued on public address systems to report unclaimed objects to the police.

Eleven people were killed in the southern city of Hyderabad in a bomb blast at a 17th century mosque during Friday prayers. Five people were shot dead by police trying to stop subsequent violent demonstrations in the communally sensitive city.

Indian intelligence agencies and security analysts say Islamist militant groups, backed by Pakistani spy agency ISI, increasingly target Muslim and Hindu religious places to trigger communal clashes between the two communities.

Hindus account for more than 80 percent of officially secular India's 1.1 billion population. With an estimated 140 million Muslims, the country is home to the world's third largest Islamic population after Indonesia and Pakistan.