Wave of blasts hit the Nation's Capital


Five suspected bomb blasts have been reported within minutes of each other in markets in India's capital, Delhi.

At least seven people were killed in the attacks, police said, while at least 30 people are reported hurt.

The explosions are not thought to have been very powerful but they happened in areas crowded with evening shoppers.

The exact cause of the blasts is not known but bombs are suspected. Crude explosives have been detonated in several Indian cities recently.

More than 400 people have died in separate attacks since October 2005, with the cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Jaipur among those hit.

India has blamed Islamist militant groups for these previous bombings.

CNN-IBN, a local TV news channel, said it had received an email before the blasts from a group calling itself the "Indian Mujahideen".

"Do whatever you can. Stop us if you can," the e-mail reportedly said.

The same group has claimed responsibility for two other recent bombing attacks.

Chaotic scenes

Two of the latest blasts in Delhi are believed to have happened metres away from each other in the central shopping district of Connaught Place.

Another blast took place in a market in the Greater Kailash area in south Delhi.

A BBC producer who visited the scene said a low-intensity explosion had scattered glass over a large area, near a popular cafe.

Two of the other explosions were reported in Delhi's Karol Bagh area and on the Barakhamba Road.

An unexploded bomb was reportedly found and defused at the capital's India Gate monument, local TV quoted police as saying.

Television pictures showed scenes of chaos at the blast scenes. Crowds have been seen milling around mangled vehicles, with debris and bloodstains scattered across the streets.

After the bombings in Jaipur and Bangalore, a group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen also claimed responsibility.

While it is too early to say exactly what caused Saturday's blasts in Delhi, they appear similar to the earlier attacks.

The earlier attacks involved multiple small devices hidden in small boxes or bags and aimed at soft targets such as crowded markets, analysts say.

The devices contained shrapnel such as nuts, bolt and ball bearings while the explosives used were improvised. Islamic militants in Kashmir have tended to use military-grade explosives.

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