AT LEAST 58 people were reported to have been killed in Delhi last night when a series of bomb blasts ripped through two markets and a bus packed with shoppers preparing for the Hindu festival of Diwali.

Scores were injured in the attacks, which happened within 40 minutes of each other and were timed to inflict maximum casualties in crowded shopping areas of the Indian capital.

One of the bombs went off in the central Paharganj district, an area of small shops and cheap hotels popular with backpackers.

There were no immediate reports of British casualties but witnesses described chaotic scenes as rescuers rushed to tend the wounded.

Bradley Spencer, a tourist from Manchester who was knocked off his feet by the blast, said traders used carts as stretchers to ferry the injured and dying to hospitals. “There were people running everywhere, screaming and in a state of shock,” he said.

No terrorist group claimed responsibility in the immediate aftermath, although speculation centred on Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Kashmiri separatist organisation linked to Al-Qaeda.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Army of the Pure, killed 52 people with two car bombs in Bombay in 2003 and carried out an attack on India’s parliament in 2001 that brought the country close to war with Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

American officials say the group has been used by Osama Bin Laden’s network for military training and support. Last night Indian police detained 10 suspects.

Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, appealed for calm as security was stepped up in other cities before Tuesday’s Diwali festival, the Hindu holiday when families gather to exchange gifts, light candles and celebrate with fireworks. “India will win the battle against terrorism,” Singh said.

Pakistan joined the international condemnation, denouncing the bombings as “criminal acts of terrorism”.

The onslaught began in Paharganj, near the main railway station. Babu Lal Khandelwal, a shopkeeper, said: “There was black smoke everywhere. When the smoke cleared I could see there were people bloody and lying in the street.”

Minutes later came the second attack at Sarojini Nagar market, a congested shopping area in south Delhi, where at least 39 people died. At least three others were killed on the bus in the southern district of Govindpuri.

• Up to 100 passengers died yesterday when a train derailed and fell into a river swollen by torrential rains near the town of Veligonda in southern India.

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