Terror returns to Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Three explosions within minutes, one at a street-side food stall and two in an amusement park, killed at least 42 people in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Saturday night, police and officials said.

More than 70 people were wounded in the blasts in a city, where nearly a dozen people were killed when a mosque was bombed in May.

Officials said at least one of Saturday's blasts was likely to have been a bomb.

Police commissioner Balwinder Singh told reporters 38 people had died, including at least two young children. Several of the injured were in a critical condition.

"The blasts took place almost simultaneously and we are still counting the number of dead," Singh said.

"This is a terrorist act," Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister for Andhra Pradesh state, where Hyderabad is located, told reporters, urging people to remain calm.

A senior police officer said two blasts occurred within 10 minutes of each other.

Four bombs defused

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts and expressed concern for the welfare of those affected, and state government officials said the blasts appeared to be terrorist attacks.

Three other devices were found across the city, including two in cinemas, and defused without causing any injuries.

The most deadly of the blasts in Hyderabad was in a popular family restaurant, Gokul Chat, in the city's Kothi market, where at least 24 people were killed, police said.

The other target was the Lumbini amusement park where at least two blasts occurred around 7.40pm local time (1410 GMT) during a popular laser show, TV channels said.

Both spots are popular with Hindus and Muslims.

"I saw chairs flying in the air along with bodies," said Vineet, who had been watching the show with about 200 other people. Four unexploded bombs were also found, two in Lumbini and two others in cinemas in the city, which were defused once people had been evacuated, police said.

Several college students were among those killed, a reporter on the scene said, and friends were crying near their bodies.

Hyderabad, one of India's biggest cities and a key information technology hub, has a large Muslim minority and a history of communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims.

Officials said several other Indian cities, including the capital, New Delhi, had been put on alert.