Here's how to remove the index.* - without looping:
Code:
# take out the index.php in URL...
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /([^/]+/)*index\.(php|htm|html)\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(([^/]+/)*)index\.(php|htm|html)$ http://%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]