'This is part of the same consignment which the terrorists had brought on Wednesday night when they were attacking and running helter-skelter, some of the material had been left behind,' anti-terrorism chief K.P. Raghuvashi said.

The situation was 'under control' and a bomb disposal unit had defused the devices, he told AFP.

The explosives were similar to others left by the militants elsewhere in the city during the attacks, reports said.

Indian television quoted police sources saying that 'improvised explosive devices' were found among baggage that belonged to victims gunned down when Islamist militants launched attacks across the city last Wednesday night.

They were similar to devices found outside the Taj Mahal and Oberoi/Trident hotels and Leopold's cafe, three of the main targets of the attacks that left 188 people dead and around 300 injured.

They appeared to have been left 'in the hope that they would go off later,' the television quoted police as saying.

Many of the victims of the attacks were killed when the heavily-armed militants opened fire with automatic weapons and sprayed bullets across the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai's main railway station, which is known as CST, or VT after its former name Victoria Terminus.

The chief minister of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the main city, was due to visit the station Wednesday evening.

Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh has been severely criticised for a lack of leadership in the wake of the deadly assaults, and had offered his resignation.

Television reported late on Wednesday that Mr Deshmukh's resignation had been accepted, but there was no immediate official confirmation.

His deputy has already stepped down, one of a number of political casualties following the attacks.

The militants, who Indian officials have linked to Pakistani terror group Lakshar-e-Taiba, left explosives outside their main targets, and blew up two taxis, apparently to kill drivers who may have been able to identify them.

Media have reported that their massive arms cache included AK-47 automatic weapons and hundreds of rounds of bullets, as well as grenades and RDX plastic explosive.

Police discovered the explosives at the hotels and cafe at the weekend, after finally ending the siege at the harbourside Taj early on Saturday.

Indian authorities are under fire for a lack of coordination and leadership in dealing with the crisis, which brought the teeming city to a standstill for almost three days, as the gunmen held off hundreds of members of the ill-equipped security forces.

Intelligence agencies have also come under intense pressure for holding onto information about potential attacks on waterfront hotels, after intercepting phone calls reportedly made by Lakshar-e-Taiba operatives as recently as a week before the attacks. -- AFP