Eerily, several TV stations were obscurely warned of the blasts — which, as of this writing, have killed at least 45 people — minutes beforehand, as an Islamic group sent out an e-mail from a Yahoo account with the subject line “Await 5 minutes for the revenge of Gujarat”:

“In the name of Allah the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death!”

Gujarat is an Indian province that saw many Muslims killed in 2002 riots. The e-mails were followed by about 16 synchronized explosions in two waves late Saturday in crowded areas of the historic city of Ahmadabad. Police defused one unexploded device early today.

At least 30 people have been detained by authorities in connection with the blasts. Meanwhile, as CNN reports, the country is on edge, with military forces patrolling the streets of Ahmadabad:

“The serial blasts occurred barely 24 hours after nine similar explosions rocked Bangalore, known as the Silicon Valley of India. Two people were killed and six injured in those explosions.


In both cities, bicycles, bags and lunch boxes were repositories for the bombs, authorities said.


‘It is a conspiracy to unsettle the country,’ Union Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal told CNN-IBN Saturday.”