Bombs kill 38 people in latest Indian city attack

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Three bombs within minutes, one at a street-side food stall and two in an amusement park, killed at least 38 people in a southern Indian city on Saturday in the latest in a series of attacks on urban centers.

More than 70 people were wounded in the blasts in Hyderabad, a city with a history of communal violence, and where nearly a dozen people were killed when a mosque was bombed in May.

There was no claim of responsibility.

"The blasts took place almost simultaneously and we are still counting the number of dead," said Balwinder Singh, the city's police commissioner.

Several bodies taken to the city's main hospital were missing limbs or decapitated, illustrating the force of the explosions.

"We are asking relatives to identify the bodies when all parts are put together," said a senior doctor, B. Venkateshwar Rao, at Osmania hospital.

Officials said the blasts were all due to bombs and described them as a terrorist attack. Three other devices were found across the city -- including two in cinemas -- and defused without causing any injuries.

Singh told reporters 38 people had died, including at least two young children. Several of the injured were in a critical condition.

A senior police officer told Reuters the blasts occurred within 10 minutes of each other at around 7:40 p.m. local time (1010 EDT).

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the bombings.

Hyderabad is one of India's biggest cities and a key information technology hub. It has a large Muslim minority and a history of clashes between Hindus and Muslims.

In the last few years a string of bomb blasts in Indian cities have killed hundreds of people, the most deadly of which was an attack on Mumbai's railway system last July when seven explosions killed more than 180 people.

Indian police and security analysts have blamed Islamist militant groups in Pakistan for previous attacks and say they have been using hardline Indian Muslims to plant bombs in an attempt to cover their cross-border links.

PEACE UNDER ATTACK

The attacks have been widely seen as attempts to derail a slow-moving peace process between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan and to trigger widespread violence between religious communities.

But they have failed to do either.