Seven bombs kill 60 people in India's Jaipur

JAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Seven bombs ripped through the crowded streets of India's western city of Jaipur on Tuesday evening, killing around 60 people in markets and outside Hindu temples.

The bombs, many strapped to bicycles, exploded within minutes of each other in Jaipur's pink walled city, a magnet for foreign tourists.

It was the deadliest bomb attack in India in nearly two years. Around 150 people were wounded and local television stations broadcast appeals for blood donations.

Police officers said no group had admitted responsibility for the blasts. Television channels quoted government and intelligence officials as blaming Pakistani or Bangladeshi Islamist militant groups.

"According to the information I have received 60 people have died and 150 have been injured," Rajasthan's Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying.

The state's home minister, Gulab Chand Kataria, said there were at least 55 deaths.

"At around 7.30 there was a big noise and suddenly I found people in a pool of blood," said Govind Sharma, a priest at a Hindu temple, through tears. "I've lost my father in the bomb blast."

Officials said the apparent motive for the bombs was to undermine a peace process between India and Pakistan or foment communal violence in India.

Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee is due to visit Islamabad in just over a week to review the four-year-old peace process, his first since a new, civilian government took over in Pakistan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed for calm. The British and U.S. governments said there could be no justification for killing innocent people.

GIVE BLOOD

At the main government hospital in Jaipur, more than 100 people crowded around the doors of the emergency ward, many screaming for information about their relatives. Police officers at the doors yelled for people to give blood.

"I've come here to locate my son," said Shabnam Bano, in tears. "He had gone to the bazaar but has not returned."

Inside the ward, cleaners frantically tried to mop up blood that had pooled in the main corridors.

Police and state government officials say some or all of the bombs were left on bicycles and detonated using timers. An eighth bomb was defused by police.

Officials said they were not aware of any foreigners being killed.