EON

New Delhi – At least 32 people were killed and more than 35 injured in a series of blasts in Hyderabad, capital of southern Indian Andhra Pradesh state on Saturday, officials said.

“Preliminary information indicates this is definitely terrorist activity,” said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy, who visited the blast sites.

The first blast took place at an open-air auditorium in Lumbini Park at round 7:45 pm (1415 GMT), an official at the Hyderabad police control room said.

The auditorium is located near the state secretariat, which houses the offices of the state chief minister and other top officials.

At least 500 people were watching a laser show in the auditorium at the time of the blasts, police official RK Rao said.

The second blast occurred within 10-15 minutes at the Gokul Chat Bhandar, a popular eatery in the Kothi area of the city located about eight kilometres from Lumbini Park, the police said.

Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Jana Reddy said about 30 people had been killed – 26 at the eatery at Kothi and six at Lumbini Park. Unconfirmed reports said the toll could be as high as 40.

Television cameras showed gory scenes at the Lumbini Park auditorium where limbs, blood, clothes and shoes were strewn around with remains of blue plastic seats. At the Gokul Chat Bhandar, dishes and food were seen scattered around amid blood-stained clothes and shoes.

Hyderabad police commissioner Balwinder Singh said the blasts appeared to have been triggered by cell phones attached to bags of explosives in a modus operandi similar to that used by terrorists in the Mecca mosque blasts in the city in May in which 14 people were killed.

The banned Harkat-ul Jehad-i-Islami (HUJI), an Islamic militant group, was suspected of masterminding the blasts, PTI news agency reported quoting police sources. The HUJI is suspected of being behind the Mecca Masjid blasts as well, the sources said.

Many of the dead were young people and women, the police said. Eleven of the dead have been identified so far. An inconsolable father of one of the victims told NDTV television channel that it was his son’s 20th birthday on Sunday.

The injured had been admitted to several hospitals in the city. The condition of 10 to 15 was said to be serious.

A red alert has been sounded in Hyderabad and people have been asked to stay indoors and avoid public places amid rumours of unexploded bombs being found at several places.

“Don’t believe rumours. Don’t spread rumours,” Reddy told people over television. “We will do everything to restore calm.”

A bomb with a timer attached had been defused below a pedestrian footbridge in the city, PTI news agency reported quoting police sources.

Security has been tightened across the city and all vehicles entering and exiting the city are being checked.

It is festival season in Andhra Pradesh and an estimated 10,000 weddings are scheduled to be held in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Politicians from across parties condemned the blasts and appealed to people to remain calm.

This is the second major suspected terrorist attack after the Mecca mosque blasts in the city in 2007. Hyderabad has a large Muslim population and a history of communal violence.

The most serious terrorist attack by triggering serial bomb blasts in recent years was one on Mumbai’s busy rail network in July 2006 that killed more than 200 people.