"MILITANTS" CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR DELHI BLASTS

As expected, Islamists were behind the Delhi bombings:

An obscure Kashmiri militant group claimed responsibility on Sunday for bomb blasts in India's capital which killed at least 57 people, but analysts said it was probably a front for a larger Pakistan-based group.

New Delhi has so far refused to blame anyone for Saturday's trio of blasts, but security experts see the hand of Lashkar-e-Taiba (Force of the Pure) behind the attacks, in an attempt to derail the peace process between India and Pakistan.

On Sunday, the Islami Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Group), telephoned local newspapers in Indian Kashmir to claim responsibility for the blasts and warned of more to come.

"This is a Pakistani group and is a front organization of Lashkar," said Ajai Sahni of New Delhi's Institute for Conflict Management. These front organisations are often used to muddy the waters and deflect blame from their parent groups, especially when civilian casualties are high, he said.

The threat of additional bombings hasn't brought life to a standstill:

Domestic and foreign tourists, who regularly come here, were walking around and taking photographs. Hawkers and icecream-sellers were doing brisk business.

"It is a sad event but life has to go on," said Meenakshi Dutta, a tourist from Kolkata.

Yes indeed.