India-Jaipur-Serial Blasts
Terror struck Jaipur Tuesday night when serial blasts rocked crowded areas including one near a temple in the space of a few minutes leaving over 100 dead and hundreds of injured.

The attack triggered a stampede in the affected areas in the walled city which are frequented by foreign tourists. Six women were among the dead, Sahara Samay news portal reported.

It is for the first time that the Pink City is coming under terror radar.

Scores of wounded people were ferried to several hospitals soon after the low-intensity blasts hit at Tripolia Bazar, where large number of devotees turned up at a Hanuman temple, Johari Bazar, Manas Chowk, Badi Choupal and Choti Choupal in the walled part of the city.

Rajasthan Director General of Police A S Gill said that it was " obviously a terror attack." Police sources said that the attack was meticulously planned and the first blast occurred around 7.40 PM and the remaining blasts were set off in quick succession. The Union Home Ministry reviewed the situation while Mumbai and Delhi were put on high alert.

Banned Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islamia (HuJI), operating from Bangladesh, is believed to be behind the serial blasts that rocked the tourist city of Jaipur this evening.

The last terror strike in Rajasthan occurred on October 11, 2007 when an explosion in the Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer left two persons dead and 17 others injured.

Condemning the attack, President Pratibha Patil appealed for peace and calm.

Terming the blasts as "despicable and dastardly acts", Vice- President Hamid Ansari expressed his deepest sympathies to the families of those killed and injured in them.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was briefed on the serial blasts that left several dead and scores injured, deplored the attack on innocent people.

Singh assured all support to the Rajasthan government and assistance to the affected families, PM's Media Adviser Sanjaya Baru said in a statement.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi also condemned the serial blasts in Jaipur, calling them a crime against humanity.

Condoling the tragic loss of innocent lives in the serial blasts, Gandhi called the terror attacks a "crime against humanity".

She appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony in this "grave" hour.

Meanwhile, a high alert was sounded in the Capital on Tuesday evening following a series of blasts in Jaipur. Security was beefed up at sensitive points in the national capital, especially at the Metro stations and crowded market places.

"An alert has been sounded in the wake of the series of blasts in Jaipur," Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said.

Additional police personnel were deployed along with bomb disposal squads at Delhi Metro stations, railway stations and inter-state bus terminals.

"An extra security cover has been extended to all the religious places, including the Jama Masjid, Akshardham and Iskcon temples," the spokesman said.