A bomb ripped through a historic mosque as Friday prayers were ending in southern India, killing at least seven people and wounding nearly three dozen, officials said. Two other unexploded bombs were found and defused by police.
Minutes after the blast at Hyderabad's 17th-century Mecca Masjid mosque, Muslims angered by what they said was a lack of police protection began chanting slogans.
The situation then quickly deteriorated as mobs threw stones at police, who dispersed them with baton charges and tear gas.
The bombing and ensuing clash between worshippers and police raised fears of wider Hindu-Muslim violence in the city, which has long been plagued by communal tensions.
Many of the 35 people injured in the explosion at the mosque were severely wounded and the city's police chief, Balwinder Singh, warned the death toll could rise.
Soon after the explosion, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state, appealed for calm.
Reddy called the bombing an act of "intentional sabotage on the peace and tranquility in the country.''
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh echoed those sentiments in a statement.
"The prime minister has condemned the bomb blast in Hyderabad and has urged members of all communities to maintain peace and communal harmony,'' Singh's media adviser, Sanjaya Baru, said in the statement.
Reddy told reporters in New Delhi that one bomb went off around 1:30pm and that police soon after found and defused two other bombs.
The bomb, made of a stick grenade packed into a metal pipe, was detonated by a mobile phone attached to the device, police said.
About 10,000 people usually attend Friday prayers at the mosque.
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