At least a dozen people were hurt, some critically, when two bombs exploded in rapid succession inside India's largest mosque in the capital Delhi today.

Women and children were among the wounded in the blasts at the 17th-century Jama Masjid.

Sayeed Ahmed Bukhari, the mosque's senior priest, said the two explosions occurred within 10 minutes of each after Friday prayers 5.20pm (1150GMT).

"I cannot put a figure on the number of those injured, but I saw one man critically injured and women running with their bleeding children on their arms," he told reporters.

"We did not see the first explosion but the second one definitely originated from a bag that was kept inside the prayer grounds. The second blast went off as people were helping those injured and if this is not a terror attack then what is?”

The redstone mosque built under Mughal emperor Shah Jehan can hold 25,000 people. It towers over the historic heart of Old Delhi with three great gateways, three onion-shaped domes, four towers and two 40 metre-high minarets.

Last week Indian police arrested six men in connection with the triple bombings that killed more than 20 people in the holy Hindu city of Varanasi last month. The explosions went off almost simultaneously at an ancient temple packed with devotees and a crowded railway station, killing 23 people and injuring 68.

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