In an e-mail message Wednesday, a group called the Indian Mujahedin sent images said to prove its involvement in the bombings.

The effort to claim a local tag added a new twist to the Indian investigation, which has focused on Jaipur's teeming and largely undocumented population of Bangladeshi migrant workers, after men with Bangladeshi accents were said to have bought bicycles used in the eight blasts that went off within 12 minutes, killing more than 60 people and injuring many more.

The closely coordinated and smoothly executed operation led many to the conclusion that, despite claims by the Indian government after almost every attack over the last few years, the country has been able to do little to stop Islamic terror groups planning and executing bombings.

According to intelligence reports that have surfaced over the past few days, at least 40 terrorist training facilities are still active within India and on its borders with neighboring countries. Claiming to have collated information from radio intercepts and interrogations of apprehended terrorists, the reports add that as many as half of them operate in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

But the suggestion that the Jaipur blasts were planned by or with the assistance of a Bangladeshi extremist group has highlighted the threat from India's eastern border.

"Terrorism in India has taken the form of an iceberg," said B. Raman, a former senior Indian intelligence official and now a security analyst, "and the Jaipur incident is yet another proof that the country so far has been able to unearth only the tip of this iceberg."

Since 2004, predominantly Hindu India has lost more than 3,725 lives to terror attacks.

"The attack also signifies the complete failure of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's policy of relying on the Pakistan army instead of adopting countermeasures to dampen terrorism from India," said M.D. Nalapat, director of the School of Geopolitics at Manipal University in India and a commentator on security issues and international affairs.

At the weekend, Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan acknowledged the need for more stringent anti-terror laws, according to the Economic Times.

The attack has also highlighted fears that Indian intelligence-gathering efforts against terrorism are too reliant on technology and lack human sources within Muslim communities where extremists live. Of the tens of thousands of Bangladeshi migrants in Jaipur, only 345 were registered with authorities, according to the Times of India.

"Gathering intelligence doesn't just mean the ability to, say, intercept messages but, more critically, having a presence within local communities, and a consequent flow of information," explained an editorial in the Economic Times. "Clearly, there is a disconnect between these communities and the state apparatus, and to that end this also represents a political failure of the Indian state."

But political failure or not, a disturbing trend in the latest attacks is that terrorists have changed their modus operandi by targeting places that lack national significance and therefore are not under special watch or protection -- and yet are congested areas that offer the possibility for mass casualties. But last week's attack on the crowded bazaars of Jaipur -- an important tourist destination that has been off the terrorists' map so far -- is not without strategic significance.

"I believe that by hitting Jaipur, they wanted to showcase the extent of their reach and ability," said Raman, "as well as the fact that they can strike in any part of India anytime."

Raman cautioned against overreaction by Indian law enforcement and security agencies, because harsh interrogation of suspects and oppressive treatment of whole communities create a feeling of animosity toward the police and the government. "And this is actually beneficial for the terrorists, because it adds to their staff strength through the flow of new recruits," said Raman.

The claim of responsibility threatens an "open war against India" for supporting U.S. policies and condemns the Hindus of Jaipur for their religious practices. It said the attack was intended to cripple the state's tourism industry and its economy.

Ever since the attacks, the tourist operators in Jaipur are struggling to keep up with the surge of cancellations. Known as the "Pink City" for its quaint pink stucco architecture, Jaipur is one of the most famous tourist destinations in India. It receives more than 1.2 million foreign and 24 million domestic tourists each year.

Jaipur is also a trading hub for ethnic garments and textiles, colored gemstones, jewelry and artifacts. These industries employ more than 300,000 artisans and fetch the city more than half a billion dollars in revenues annually.

Consequently, the city's economy and its tourism sector are already in a shambles, according to local media reports.

Nevertheless, although a local group is the only one so far to have claimed a role in the attack, investigators believe the operation was likely aided by the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jehad Al-Islami, known as HuJI. "This attack has all the footprints -- the method, kind of material used, and the structure of the explosives -- of HuJI," said Bhaskar Roy, a former Indian government official and now a security analyst.

"Moreover, the friendly stance that the present civilian government in Pakistan has taken toward India is certainly not in the interest of these militant groups. They want to stop the relationship between the two countries," he added.

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