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MADRAS, India, Tuesday (AFP) Police in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu arrested two suspected militants who were allegedly planning to bomb Hindu temples.

The men have been identified as Kasim and Abdullah, alleged associates of Zaheer Hussain and Davufiq, who were detained last week.

All four are suspected to have links with Muslim Defence Force (MDF), a previously unknown militant group.

The group was alleged to be behind the planting of bombs near the Sai Baba temple in Hyderabad last week. The bombs were discovered before they could explode.

Tamil Nadu police have stepped up security at all important temples across the state following the arrests.

Police said Hussain and Davufiq were arrested at Kodungaiyur on the outskirts of Madras during investigation of a murder case.

"The search is on for their associates and more arrests are likely in a day or two," a police source said.

Police said the four men were suspected to have received training in Pakistan and had traveled clandestinely to Sri Lanka. Their possible links with Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka and the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant outfit in Kashmir were being probed, the source said.

Police also claimed to have recovered a "large quantity of explosives packed in gunny bags" following the arrests.

Meanwahile Two people were killed and around 27 people injured Monday in a bomb blast on a bus near a busy railway station in India's western commercial hub of Bombay, police said.

A senior police official from Bombay, capital of the western Maharashtra state, said it looked like "terrorist activity".

The blast occurred near Ghatkopar railway station about 6:45 pm (1315 GMT) when the bus had just offloaded passengers at the busy intra-city railway station during the evening rush hour.

Most of the estimated 27 people injured were passersby and nearby residents, police said. Three of the injured were in a serous condition.

Earlier An Indian soldier was killed and six others injured in an overnight ambush by Muslim militants in disputed Kashmir, while six rebels and two civilians were killed elsewhere, police said.

The militants, armed with rifles and grenades, ambushed an army convoy in the village of Reshipora, near the town of Banihal, 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir late Sunday.

One soldier was killed on the spot while the others, including two officers, sustained serious injuries, a police spokesman said. He named the wounded officers as Lieutenant Colonel R.M. Raina and Junior Commissioned Officer T.S. Raju.

Meanwhile, India's Border Security Force (BSF) killed three high-ranking members of the hardline Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba in the village of Hajan, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Srinagar on Monday, a BSF spokesman said. 

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