(A man shines a flashlight on what appears
to be blood following one of the blasts.)



At least 36 people died and 40 were injured in two blasts at two places in Hyderabad on Saturday evening.
The blasts occurred at around 1930 hrs IST—the first at Lumbini Park on Necklace Road near the state Secretariat and the second five minutes later at Gokul Chat shop, a popular eating joint in Koti. The two places are eight km apart.
More than two dozen people at Gokul Chat and six at Lumbini Park.
Several hundred people had gathered at an auditorium in Lumbini Park for a laser show off the Hussain Sagar Lake. State Home Minister K Jana Reddy said around 500 people were in the auditorium when the blast ripped through the middle row of seats.
Reddy alleged the state government had got intelligence inputs that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence planned terror attacks in the state.


Chief Minister YSR Reddy after visiting Lumbini Park said the blasts were an act of terror. “I request everyone to maintain calm. This is definitely an act of terror,” he said.
The nature of blasts is not known but Additional Commissioner of Police Uma Maheswari Rao told CNN-IBN explosive material was used at least in Lumbini Park.
The police have cordoned off the two places and are searching railway stations and bus depots in the city. The injured have been taken to Mediciti Hospital and Osmania Hospital.
Security in Hyderabad has been tightened in view of 10,000 weddings on Sunday. This is the second major terror attack in the city this year. At least 12 people died and several were injured in a blast at the city’s Mecca Masjid mosque on May 18 this year.