India's Jaipur bombing called 'terror plot'

India says a series of coordinated bombings Tuesday in the western city of Jaipur were among the country's deadliest terrorist attacks in recent years. National authorities are on high alert for further violence as suspicion shifted to militant Islamic groups in South Asia blamed for previous attacks in India.

At least seven bombs detonated within minutes of each other, blasting crowded early-evening markets, bazaars, and a Hindu temple in Jaipur's pink-hued old city, says the Associated Press. An eighth bomb was found and defused by police. The death toll rose overnight to 80 after more casualties died in the hospital, police said, and 200 were reportedly injured.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, as is the case with most bombings in India. But within hours of the blasts, authorities were suggesting that blame would eventually fall on Pakistan and the Islamic militant groups that India accuses its neighbor of backing.

"One can't rule out the involvement of a foreign power," said India's junior home minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, using language commonly understood to refer to Pakistan.

Britain's Daily Telegraph reports that police detained four suspects and imposed a daytime curfew in parts of the city. None of the suspects have been charged. Authorities declared a day of mourning in the state of Rajasthan, of which Jaipur is the capital.

CNN says Jaipur, 160 miles from New Delhi, the capital, is popular with foreign tourists who crowd its historic center, though less so during the current hot season. After the blasts, witnesses said bicycles and rickshaws were strewn around the streets inside the city walls. Police found pieces of motorbikes at several bomb sites that indicate their being used to conceal explosives.

Cars and bicycles may also have been used in the bombings, reports Agence France-Presse. One unexploded bomb was found attached to a bicycle. Police defused it and handed it over to explosives experts sent from New Delhi to help detectives.

The New York Times says that the main government hospital where casualties were taken for treatment hadn't admitted any foreigners. A state official said the bombers had likely sought to incite religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims.

There were a total of seven blasts in quick succession near a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Hanuman about 7:30 p.m. and in the warrens of shops and monuments nearby, including the popular 18th-century tourist site called Hawa Mahal, and the Johri Bazaar, lined with jewelers. Panic set in immediately, officials said.

Jitender Narwani, 31, was offering prayers at the temple when one of the bombs went off. Shrapnel punctured his legs.

Shahid, 16, a candle maker, had gone for a sip of water from a public tap in an area called Tripola market when there was another blast.

Subhana Khan, 4, was shopping with her mother and two aunts in Johri Bazaar; they were about to board a rickshaw at the time of another explosion. All but the little girl were killed.

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