At least 30 dead and 60 wounded in two blasts in south India

New Delhi, 25 Aug 2007. - At least 30 people were killed and 60 injured today when two bombs explode in the city of Hyderabad in southern India, official sources reported.
The blasts took place at 19.45 local time (14.15 GMT) at the Lumbini amusement park, near the headquarters of the regional government of Andhra, and in the cafeteria Goku Chat in the commercial area of Koti, about five kilometers.
The latter was the bloodiest action, with 24 deaths, said the regional minister of Interior, K. Jana Reddy, told the Indian agency PTI.
Reddy added that according to preliminary investigations, it was a "terrorist act", the interior minister, Shivraj Patil described as "horrible."
Intelligence sources quoted by the television channel NDTV said that the action was "meticulously planned and executed" and that the authors used timers and explosives "high intensity".
Speaking to IANS Indian agency, the information minister of Andhra and Energy Mohammed Ali Shabbir, confirmed the death of six people in the Lumbini Park blast, which took place when some 500 spectators, including many children, watched a show laser.
The blast occurred in the outdoor auditorium and next to a lake when the function had just begun and, according to witnesses, was so powerful that some people jumped into the air.
"The show started and after a while we hear an explosion. People started to run back and forth in complete disarray, "he told a television station a security guard at the park.
According to the agency IANS, half an hour after the explosion there were three bodies of children between the chairs Lumbini Park auditorium.
Another three people died and in the hospital, where doctors claim that several injured are in critical condition.
The Hyderabad police commissioner, Balwinder Singh, said the death toll in the explosion could be higher because the place is crowded with families who come to spend the day at weekends.
Hyderabad was taken shortly after the blasts by dozens of ambulances arriving in the affected areas to transport the injured to hospitals and Osmania Gandhi, the latter notorious for hosting the wounded from the explosion of May at the Mecca Mosque of the city, with nine deaths.
After cordoning off the area, police quickly recognized that this was an attack, while the prime minister of the region, Rajasekhara Reddy visited the affected area and appealed for calm to the population.
The opposition, however, accused the government of having neglected security in a city recently hit by terrorist violence and denounced the lack of security checks at Lumbini Park, where anyone can enter on payment of 10 cents.
The city, where tomorrow is scheduled to hold mass wedding of 10,000, is on high alert and authorities have initiated security checks at train stations and buses, PTI reported.
On May 18, Hyderabad was attacked in the central Mecca mosque, where thousands of Muslims had gathered to celebrate the Friday prayers.
Now, the intelligence services are investigating whether the pumps have to do with that explosion, which led to a wave of violent clashes with police in which several people were shot.
Between the calls to the tranquility of the authorities, both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the leader of the ruling Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi expressed concern about the incident and condemned the attacks.