Jaipur, May 15: "This is not a crime, we are in the middle of a war," Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said on Thursday as her government scaled down the number of dead in the horrific terrorist attack to 61.

Addressing her second press conference in as many days, Raje also sought a comprehensive anti-terrorist mechanism and a policy to deal with terror.

Looking still shaken in the aftermath of the Tuesday bombings in the heart of Jaipur, the chief minister said the mayhem was no ordinary crime.

"Crime takes place on a small scale," she said. "This is not a crime, we are in the middle of a war."

Raje, however, said an email sent to a television channel showing a bag apparently stuffed with the bomb and placed on the carrier of a parked bicycle "seems to be a ploy to mislead us".

Police have said that the bombs were concealed in bags and placed on parked cycles at half a dozen crowded sites in Jaipur's walled city. They exploded within a space of 15 minutes.

Raje said: "The picture shown in the email shows a bag placed on the back of the cycle. In that case, the cycle should have been destroyed from the back. But in Jaipur, the cycle was destroyed from the front."