A pair of bombs exploded this evening in a crowded shopping area in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, killing at least 12 people and wounding 78 more in the worst bombing in the country in more than a year, officials said.
The blasts occurred about two minutes apart outside a movie theater and a bus station, police said. Storefronts were shattered and television footage showed the wounded being rushed to hospitals.
"This is a dastardly attack, the guilty will not go unpunished," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. He appealed to the public to remain calm.
The bombs were attached to two bicycles about 150 meters (500 feet) apart in the district of Dilsukh Nagar, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said. The district is a usually crowded shopping area near a residential neighborhood.
Eight people died in one explosion and three in the other, Shinde told reporters in the Indian capital of New Delhi.
Mahesh Kumar, a 21-year-old student, was heading home from a tutoring class when a bomb went off.
''I heard a huge sound and something hit me, I fell down, and somebody brought me to the hospital," said Kumar, who suffered shrapnel wounds.
Hyderabad, a city of 10 million, is a hub of India's information technology industry and has a mixed population of Muslims and Hindus.
The explosions were the first major bomb attacks to hit India since a September 2011 blast outside the High Court in New Delhi killed 13 people. The government has been heavily criticized for its failure to arrest the masterminds behind previous bombings.
Home Secretary RK Singh said officials from the National Investigation Agency and commandos of the National Security Guards were leaving New Delhi for Hyderabad.
India has been in a state of alert since Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri, was hanged in a New Delhi jail nearly two weeks ago. Guru had been convicted of involvement in a 2001 attack on India's Parliament that killed 14 people, including five gunmen.
Many in Indian-ruled Kashmir believe Guru did not receive a fair trial, and the secrecy with which the execution was carried out fueled anger in a region where anti-India sentiment runs deep.
Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said after the Hyderabad blasts this evening that the government had some intelligence inputs about a possible terror attack for the last two days, but no specific details.
The Home Minister, who will be visiting the blast site on Friday, said the intelligence had been shared with chief ministers of different states, and added that he could not share any more information.
Sources said the alert sent out was a generic one, with nothing specific to Hyderabad, from the Multi-Agency Centre where various agencies pool intelligence. The probe has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The Home Minister said the two bombs that ripped through the busy Dilsukhngar in Hyderabad today were planted on bicycles.
Eleven people have died and nearly 80 are injured. Mr Shinde said it was "possible the death toll could rise."
The explosions took place just after 7 pm and sources in Mr Shinde's ministry said they were a terror strike by "a well-trained" group which timed the explosions to cause the maximum damage.
Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities have been put on high alert.
The blasts occurred about two minutes apart outside a movie theater and a bus station, police said. Storefronts were shattered and television footage showed the wounded being rushed to hospitals.
"This is a dastardly attack, the guilty will not go unpunished," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. He appealed to the public to remain calm.
The bombs were attached to two bicycles about 150 meters (500 feet) apart in the district of Dilsukh Nagar, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said. The district is a usually crowded shopping area near a residential neighborhood.
Eight people died in one explosion and three in the other, Shinde told reporters in the Indian capital of New Delhi.
Mahesh Kumar, a 21-year-old student, was heading home from a tutoring class when a bomb went off.
''I heard a huge sound and something hit me, I fell down, and somebody brought me to the hospital," said Kumar, who suffered shrapnel wounds.
Hyderabad, a city of 10 million, is a hub of India's information technology industry and has a mixed population of Muslims and Hindus.
The explosions were the first major bomb attacks to hit India since a September 2011 blast outside the High Court in New Delhi killed 13 people. The government has been heavily criticized for its failure to arrest the masterminds behind previous bombings.
Home Secretary RK Singh said officials from the National Investigation Agency and commandos of the National Security Guards were leaving New Delhi for Hyderabad.
India has been in a state of alert since Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri, was hanged in a New Delhi jail nearly two weeks ago. Guru had been convicted of involvement in a 2001 attack on India's Parliament that killed 14 people, including five gunmen.
Many in Indian-ruled Kashmir believe Guru did not receive a fair trial, and the secrecy with which the execution was carried out fueled anger in a region where anti-India sentiment runs deep.
Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said after the Hyderabad blasts this evening that the government had some intelligence inputs about a possible terror attack for the last two days, but no specific details.
The Home Minister, who will be visiting the blast site on Friday, said the intelligence had been shared with chief ministers of different states, and added that he could not share any more information.
Sources said the alert sent out was a generic one, with nothing specific to Hyderabad, from the Multi-Agency Centre where various agencies pool intelligence. The probe has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The Home Minister said the two bombs that ripped through the busy Dilsukhngar in Hyderabad today were planted on bicycles.
Eleven people have died and nearly 80 are injured. Mr Shinde said it was "possible the death toll could rise."
The explosions took place just after 7 pm and sources in Mr Shinde's ministry said they were a terror strike by "a well-trained" group which timed the explosions to cause the maximum damage.
Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities have been put on high alert.
Source : AP, NDTV
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