Three powerful blasts ripped through crowded neighbourhoods in the Indian capital today, killing at least 50 people, many of them out shopping ahead of the country's biggest Hindu and Muslim festivals.
The blasts occurred minutes of each other, two of them in major shopping districts, packed with people out on a fine evening.
At least 50 people were feared killed, New Delhi's Chief Fire Officer, R.C. Sharma said.
Scores were injured, reports said. "It is something that has been planned, that is quite obvious," Delhi state Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told the NDTV television news channel.
"It was someone whose intentions are not good, that is also obvious. it is far too early to say who is behind it." India celebrates Diwali, the biggest Hindu festival, on Tuesday.
A few days later, Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The explosions triggered a nationwide alert and security was stepped up in the commercial hub Mumbai as well as other cities.
Other markets in Delhi, a city of about 12 million people, shut down after news of the blasts.
Television pictures showed rescue workers pulling out a charred body from rubble in the market. A third blast was reported at Govindpuri, a largely industrial area also in the south of the city.
"It was so powerful that it shook our police station which is some distance away," a police officer said of the third blast. Police said a fourth blast reported by some local televison stations was a hoax put down to firecrackers.
India's prime minister has called the blasts an act of terrorism. "This kind of cynical attack on the people of India is just not acceptable," said a spokesman for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - who is expected to cut short an official visit to the eastern city of Kolkata to rush back to the capital.