NEW DELHI, Sept 14: Indian police hunted on Sunday for militants behind coordinated bomb attacks against busy shopping areas in the nation’s capital that left 22 dead and close to 100 injured.

The blasts on Saturday evening struck several crowded areas of New Delhi within 45 minutes, and were claimed by a group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen.

A further three bombs, also placed in crowded areas of the capital, were found and defused, Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told AFP.

One had been placed at India Gate, one of the country’s most iconic monuments and a major tourist attraction in the heart of Delhi.

“We have very vital clues, positive clues, we are very hopeful we will solve this case,” he said, confirming the latest toll at 22 dead and 98 injured.

“Several people” are being questioned, he said, declining to confirm media reports that 10 people had been detained in overnight raids.

The bombs were of varying intensity and the targeted locations in middle-class south and central Delhi were all packed with evening shoppers.

Premier Manmohan Singh on Sunday visited the injured in hospital, and the federal government held a top-level meeting on security. Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta told reporters that “urgent measures” were discussed.

“We have discussed various measures that may be needed not only in Delhi but other major cities,” he said, promising to “fill up any kind of (security) gap, strengthening the machinery, the system and processes.”In an email sent to several media outlets minutes before the first blast, the Indian Mujahideen challenged authorities to “stop us if you can”.

Little is known about the militant group, which had also claimed responsibility for bombings in July that killed at least 45 people in the cities of Ahmedabad and Bangalore.

Security services suspect it may be a front for groups banned by the Indian government over the past few years such as the Students’ Islamic Movement of India. Others say it could be a loose coalition of Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammed militant groups.

A Lashkar-i-Taiba spokesman denied to AFP on Sunday any link to the Indian Mujahideen.

The email threat was traced to a Mumbai electronics firm, which police believe had its wireless connection hacked into. “We are innocent and hard-working people,” Sarika Kamath, wife of the company’s owner, told the Press Trust of India.

“We did not feel the need to secure or password protect our internet connection. But now it has become a necessity.”—AFP