The vehicle was blown apart

Monday's attack, which killed three people, was the latest in a series of blasts in the city since December.

Hundreds of right-wing activists took to the streets of Bombay, also called Mumbai, to enforce the stoppage on Wednesday.

Banks and financial institutions were open, but staff attendance was down because of the strike.

"We have received reports of stone pelting from several places," said joint police commissioner Ahmad Javed.

BOMBAY BLASTS Mar 2003 - 11 killed in commuter train Jan 2003 - 30 injured in market attack Dec 2002 - 23 injured at McDonald's outlet Dec 2002 - Two killed in bus blast Mar 1993 - More than 250 killed in serial blasts

"Efforts were also made to stop buses in some parts of the city."

Police have been stationed near mosques, temples and railway stations to prevent violence.

The strike was called by the Shiv Sena party and India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party, which blame Pakistan-based militants for the bombing.

Earlier blasts

The explosion ripped through a bus near a telephone exchange in the north-eastern suburb of Ghatkopar on Monday night.

The blast tore open the roof of the bus, damaged nearby vehicles and shattered the windows of some buildings, police said.

As well as those killed, more than 40 people were injured.

This was the fifth bomb blast in Bombay in recent months, three of which targeted the city's public transport system.

Police say they suspect Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Toiba Islamic militant group carried out the attack.

Lashkar-e-Toiba is one of the two Pakistani rebel groups that Delhi blames for the December 2001 militant attack on its parliament which left 15 people dead, including five attackers.

Eleven people were killed in a bomb explosion on a Bombay commuter train in March.

Police linked it to another bomb blast in a Bombay suburb three months previously.

In May, Bombay officials announced they were planning an elite anti-terrorist police squad to bolster security.

The city was hit by serial bombings 10 years ago, in which more than 250 people died. Fifteen massive explosions rocked the length and breadth of Bombay on 12 March, 1993.