India prepared today for uneasy celebrations of the biggest festival on the Hindu calendar as police hunted those behind three devastating bomb attacks in the capital.
Officials said they had several leads on the attacks that killed at least 59 people in crowded bazaars in New Delhi on Saturday and were checking an obscure Kashmiri group's claim of responsibility.
Many were still trying to trace dead or missing relatives and friends, but the city of 14 million was slowly getting back on its feet on the eve of Diwali, the Hindu celebration of the victory of good over evil, and a few days before Eid al-Fitr, the biggest festival on the Muslim calendar.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has blamed the coordinated blasts on terrorists but has not named any group.
Analysts say the Islami Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Group), which claimed responsibility, is likely a front for the better known Pakistan-based radical group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The blasts could be aimed at derailing a slow-moving peace process between Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan, which came close to war over Kashmir in 2002, they say.
Yesterday, hours after the attacks, the two countries agreed to open border crossings in the disputed Himalayan region to help victims of this month's devastating earthquake.
Both sides say they are committed to peace talks and analysts say the bombings could impede progress but not derail the process.
"If it had to happen, it would have happened immediately," professor Khalid Mahmood, of Islamabad's Institute of Regional Studies, said. "It is a serious matter, but they will not allow it to undermine the peace process."