Indian security forces unable to thwart bombing (archive)
צילום: איי אף פי
Dozens killed in India blasts
Bombs goes off during amusement park laser show; minutes later, another explosion rips through crowded market. Foreign Ministry: No Israeli casualties reported in blasts
Three explosions within minutes, one at a street-side food stall and two in an amusement park, killed at least 38 people in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Saturday, police and officials said.
No Israeli casualties were reported in the series of blasts, Foreign Ministry officials in Jerusalem said.
More than 50 people were wounded in the blasts in a city with a history of communal violence, and where nearly a dozen people were killed when a mosque was bombed in May.
"The blasts took place almost simultaneously and we are still counting the number of dead," Balwinder Singh, Hyderabad's commissioner of police, told reporters shortly after the bombings.
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.
The most deadly of the blasts was at a road-side food stand, where at least 24 people were killed, police said.
The other target was the Lumbini amusement park where at least two blasts occurred around 7:40 PM during a popular laser show, TV channels said
"I saw chairs flying in the air along with bodies," said Vineet, a young man who had been watching the show with about 200 other people.
New Delhi put on alert
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.NDTV showed at least two dead bodies slumped under rows of blue plastic seating in the park, both with blood-soaked clothing.
Several college students were among those killed, a Reuters reporter on the scene said, and friends were crying near their bodies.
Hyderabad is one of India's biggest cities and a key information technology hub. It has a large Muslim minority and a history of communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims.
Officials said Hyderabad and other cities, including the capital, New Delhi, had been put on alert.
(Additional reporting by Roee Nahmias, Kamil Zaheer, Onkar Pandey and Meenakshi Ray in New Delhi)
