A group called the Indian Mujahedeen has claimed responsibility for a series of bomb blasts that have rocked India's capital, New Delhi, leaving at least nine people dead and 40 injured.

The six explosions hit two busy market places and car park in the business district within minutes of each other on Saturday, injuring weekend shoppers.

Bloodstained clothes, badly damaged cars with shattered windows and mangled motorbikes littered the area.

Television broadcasts showed a scene of chaos, with wounded people being carried away by civilians and emergency service workers.

Hundreds of people milled around the sites of the explosions as police tried to cordon off the area.

'Maximum alert'

Twenty people were reported to have been injured in the explosion at the Gopaldas Bhawan car park.

"We heard a very loud noise, then we saw people running all over the place," said Chanchal Kumar, a witness whose shirt was soaked in the blood of several victims he had helped carry into ambulances.

"There were about 100-200 people around this place," he said.

A blast on Barakhamba Road then went off near the metro station, after which twin blasts were reported in the Greater Kailash market.

Bomb disposal squads rushed to the bomb-sites which were cordoned off.

Authorities turned off mobile phone networks amid fears phones could be used to trigger more blasts.

The bomb attacks come after similar attacks in Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh as well all Metros have been put on maximum alert.

Recommend this article...

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto: