No warnings, clues in deadly triple Mumbai blasts

BOMBAY (Reuters) - Indian intelligence agencies had received no warning before the three bombings that killed 18 people in Mumbai, the largest attack since Pakistan-based militants rampaged through the financial center in 2008, a high official said Thursday.

But suspicion fell on the Indian Mujahideen, a shadow home grown militant group known for bombing campaigns from city to city, using small explosive devices planted in restaurants, at bus stops and on busy streets.

"There was no information about an attack by militants in Mumbai. This is not a failure of intelligence agencies," Interior Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram at a news conference.

"Know that the authors have attacked and have worked very very illegal. Maybe it's a very small group, maybe they do not communicate with each other. "

He said it was too early to point the finger at one particular group, but said that the "coordinated terrorist attack" could be in retaliation for a number of plots recently arrested by the police or arrests, including the Mujahedeen Indians.

The Indian Mujahideen has been accused of having links with Pakistani militant groups fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir.

The attacks were the biggest militant attack in Bombay since the 2008 attacks killed 166 people, has raised tensions with its neighbor and nuclear rival Pakistan, and left a city on the edge.

The explosions come from India and Pakistan seek to normalize relations. Pakistani leaders have been quick to condemn the attacks, as was President Barack Obama. Top U.S. diplomat, Hillary Clinton, is due in India for talks planned next week.

There was no immediate indication of a Pakistani group was involved. But any suggestion to assign blame in Islamabad would only complicate a tense relationship with India - with whom he has a long-standing dispute over Kashmir - and even sort out the relationship with the United States.

"We live in the city's most troubled in the world. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the epicenter of terrorism, "said Chidambaram, adding that Pakistan had not provided support in India to go after those behind the attacks in Bombay in 2008.