Bomb found in Nashik

As Malegaon limped back to normal, there are indications that plots to engineer communal riots in this textile centre continue. A bomb was found outside a busy hospital in Nashik today.

According to reports, the bomb was found outside the crowded Lifeline Hospital around noon. A bomb disposal squad is working to defuse the bomb, which is linked to remote control devices.

As police struggled to find who, or what, caused the blasts in Malegaon last week, sources said it was clear that the aim was to engineer riots.

Police said persons affiliated to Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chose a Muslim area in the hope that the blasts would cause a backlash and provoke communal clashes.

"There is a new thinking within the ISI that it is not blasts that cause maximum damage but riots over a sustained period," said a police source in Mumbai.

Local newspapers reported that at least two leaders from the minority community had contacted the local police and warned of a communal flare-up.

However, the possibility that these blasts were a way of influencing municipal elections in Maharashtra, due in a few months, could be ruled out. Election-related communal violence is not unheard of in the state.