Malaysia has condemned the bomb attacks in Mumbai and offered its help in combating international terrorism.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar also conveyed condolences to India, particularly to the victims and their families.

"Malaysia will continue to cooperate with the Indian government and the international community in the fight against international terrorism," Syed Hamid said in a statement released through the state news agency Bernama.

At least 183 people were killed in the attacks on Mumbai's railway system on Tuesday and more than 700 people were injured.

Senior police officials investigating the attacks system said today that they were focusing on a Kashmiri militant group, Lashkar-e-Toiba, which has denied involvement in the attacks.

Another Malaysian politician, former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, said he was "shocked and saddened" by the Mumbai bombing.

"The barbaric attack was cowardly carried out and was aimed at destabilising
Indian society. The violence deserved strongest condemnation from all
quarters, regardless of religions or ideological persuasions," he said in a statement.

"We in Malaysia are in full solidarity with the people of India in the face of such horrible tragedy."

He added that India's deep-rooted democratic foundations should not
be destroyed by a "tiny band of criminals".

"Their attempt to inflict pain and fear in the civilised world will fail. I have a firm conviction that reason, humanity and justice will eventually prevail."

Back to business

Meanwhile, Mumbai, India's financial capital, made a determined effort to return to business in the wake of the carnage.

Service resumed early today on the rail network that was struck during the evening rush hour on Tuesday. Though the trains were not as crowded as usual, many commuters overcame their fears sufficiently to ride them again.

Police spent the day combing through the wreckage of the seven passenger cars that were bombed, looking for forensic evidence that might help them identify the culprits. Experts were examining a timer found near the site of one of the blasts. Initial tests suggested that RDX, a powerful plastic explosive, had been used, the Home Ministry said.

In a New York Times report today, director general of police in Maharashtra, the Indian state that includes Mumbai, said that officers had "no concrete evidence" to implicate Lashkar-e-Toiba, an Islamic militant organization that is fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, a mostly Muslim state that is also claimed, and is partly occupied, by Pakistan.

But the director general, PS Pasricha, said "the modus operandi does suggest their involvement." The organisation and scale of the attacks, the type of explosive involved and the use of remote control devices all suggested that Lashkar-e-Toiba may have been involved, perhaps in conjunction with local groups, he said.

"Still, it would be premature and misleading to say anything about their involvement at this point of investigations as forensic lab reports are awaited," he added.

Probe under way

Officials in Delhi were spoke even more cautiously. Rajneesh Kumar, the deputy director of communications at the Ministry of Home Affairs, said it was too early to comment on who might have set off the bombs.

"Initially, we were focusing on the relief and rescue operation, but now the investigation is under way," he said.

Representatives from Lashkar-e-Toiba, whose name means Army of the Pure, telephoned several Indian news organisations to deny involvement. "These are inhuman and barbaric acts" a man who identified himself as "Doctor Ghaznavi", a spokesman for the group, told Reuters. "Islam does not permit the killing of innocent people."

In the past, the group has been implicated in attacks on Indian government facilities and security forces, and in the round-up and massacre of non-Muslim civilians in Kashmiri villages, and it has reportedly claimed to have links with al-Qaeda and with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

A senior official at the Foreign Ministry, Anand Sharma, said that the bombings in Mumbai on Tuesday were aimed at "wrecking" the peace process between Pakistan and India, both of which have nuclear weapons. He said that New Delhi remained committed to improving relations with Islamabad.

Analysts warned that if a link is established between the bombings and the Kashmir dispute, it could set back the peace process.