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BOMBAY, Sunday (Reuters) Indian police guarded temples and patrolled the streets of Bombay on Sunday as thousands of Hindus offered prayers at the start of a holy festival days after the city was rocked by twin car-bomb blasts. People stood in long queues for hours to worship idols of the elephant god Ganesh installed under large, brightly decorated canopies in lanes across the country's financial capital.

At least 52 people were killed and 150 wounded when the car bombs exploded on Monday in the bustling city, which is also the capital of India's western Maharashtra state. On Wednesday, a stampede at the Kumbh Mela, or Grand Pitcher festival, in the state's Nasik city killed at least 32 devotees.

Police have blamed an outlawed Muslim students group for the blasts and said it was acting with a banned, Pakistan-based Kahsmiri rebel group. More than 30,000 police were deployed in the city and thousands of devotees guarded the worship sites as the 10-day festival began.

At Siddhivinayak, the city's most popular Ganesh temple, police in bullet-proof vests and carrying automatic rifles stood behind sandbagged barricades, as devotees began lining up from Saturday night for the ceremonies. "I am scared after the bomb blasts, but if I have to die on this auspicious day, I would think I'm blessed," said housewife Lata Kamble, 43, as she waited to enter the temple.

Across the city, volunteers checked bags of devotees. Metal detectors were in use at most worship sites.

Men, women and children danced on roads to drumbeats as idols of Ganesh, were taken in procession to be installed under canopies decked with fresh flowers and incense sticks. Ganesh is worshipped as a god who removes obstacles in the path of his devotees.

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