South Asia News
45 dead as blasts rock India's Jaipur city (Roundup)
By DPA
May 13, 2008, 17:28 GMT

New Delhi - At least 45 people were killed and nearly 100 injured as terrorists set off six powerful bomb blasts in India's northern city of Jaipur on Tuesday, officials and news reports said.

The bombs went off in market places and outside a Hindu temple where a large number of devotees had gathered for prayers, killing 45 people, the IANS news agency reported quoting state police chief AS Gill.

Another bomb was defused by the police in an area in the city, capital of the north-western Rajasthan state, which is considered among the most popular tourist destinations in India.

Those injured were rushed to the local hospitals as the police said foreign tourists could be among the victims of the attacks. The city is located some 250 kilometres south west of national capital New Delhi.

India's junior home minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told the NDTV network that there was enough evidence to show that it was a terrorist attack and hinted that a foreign-based terrorist group was involved.

According to the police, the blasts occurRed in markets such as the Johari Bazar, Badi Choupal and Choti Choupal and near the Hanuman temple in the Tripolia Bazar area and Hawa Mahal, or the palace of winds, considered the most famous landmark in the city.

The explosions took place within a range of one kilometre and in a span of half an hour between 7.15 pm and 7.45 pm local time, the witnesses said.

The six bombs targeting five places were planted on cycles and cars and were 'designed to create maximum impact', police officers said.

The blasts triggered panic amongst the shoppers and worshippers as frightened people ran helter-skelter for safety. The city plunged into fear as there were traffic jams on the streets and people rushed to their homes after the blasts.

'There was an deafening explosion near the shops and huge flames engulfed the area. There was total chaos and many people were crying and running for safety,' Lalit Khatri, a witness told the NDTV.

Information Officer of the Rajasthan Government, Rohit Singh said the fact that blasts took place near a Hindu place of worship, indicated that the attacks were aimed at triggering communal violence between Hindus and Muslims.

Meanwhile, Indian security agencies suspected the Muslim militant group Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islamia (HuJI) to be behind the carnage. The HuJI was believed to be behind an attack at a Muslim Sufi shrine in the state in October 2007 which claimed two lives.

The Federal Home Ministry sounded a nationwide alert following the serial blasts in Jaipur, the first major terrorist attack in India this year.

Both Indian President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts and appealed to people to maintain communal harmony in the state.