At least 15 people were killed and scores wounded in a series of explosions which hit the Hindu pilgrimage city of Varanasi in northern India within a span of 45 minutes on Tuesday, police said.

One explosion occurred in the packed Sankat Mochan temple and two blasts rocked one of the city?s main railway stations, a federal interior ministry official told Reuters.

?Fifteen people have died and about 60 are injured. The blasts were pretty big and I do not rule out a terrorist hand behind it,? Navneet Sikera, Varanasi?s police chief, told Reuters.

The three explosions occurred between 6 p.m. and 6.45 p.m. (12.30-13.15 GMT), police said. A bomb was also recovered from a residential area and was being defused, they added. ?There was a very loud noise and all my men rushed to the spot,? said Jabir Ali, a police inspector at Varanasi?s cantonment railway station. ?We have emptied the station and are checking it. We have stopped trains bound for Delhi,? he said by phone.

No group claimed responsibility for the blasts and officials said it was too early to pin blame. But most previous attacks on Hindu temples in India have been blamed on Islamic militants.

Authorities ordered increased security across northern India to prevent any clashes between the country?s majority Hindus and minority Muslims. ?I cannot say which outfit was responsible for the ghastly attack but since one of the places of attack is a temple it has a potential of creating suspicion and tension among different communities,? said federal Home (Interior) Secretary V.K. Duggal.

<B>Pool of blood</B>

Temple-studded Varanasi, 670 km (415 miles) southeast of New Delhi, is on the banks of the Ganges river in Uttar Pradesh state and is one of Hinduism?s holiest cities.

Hindus believe that dying in Varanasi, being cremated on the banks of the Ganges and the ashes immersed in the river ensures release from the cycle of rebirth. Many elderly and ill people come to the city if they believe they are close to death. ?The prime minister has appealed for people to remain calm. The government is dealing with the situation and people should maintain peace,? Prime Minister Manmohan Singh?s spokesman said. Home Minister Shivraj Patil said the incident was ?an attempt by desperate elements to disturb communal harmony and peace?.

Television pictures showed a large pool of blood mixed with glass shards at one of the blast sites. Angry locals were shouting slogans, although it was not clear who they were targeting. Workers at one local hospital made repeated announcements over loudspeakers for volunteers to donate blood.

The Sankat Mochan temple, one of India?s most ancient, is dedicated to Hinduism?s monkey god Hanuman, and its name means ?deliverer from troubles?.

The temple is filled with people on Tuesdays as it is considered particularly holy by devotees of Hanuman.

The attack sparked fears of sectarian strife in Uttar Pradesh, India?s most populous state, which has a history of Hindu-Muslim clashes and has also been a target of Islamist militants in the past.

Last July, unidentified gunmen stormed Ayodhya, another holy site in the state and a tinderbox for Hindu-Muslim violence for decades.

All six attackers, who police said were Islamist militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, were killed in a two-hour gunfight with police guarding the site.

In October last year, three powerful bombs ripped through packed markets in New Delhi killing at least 66 people and wounding more than 100.

The coordinated blasts happened ahead of the biggest Hindu and Muslim festivals and ignited tensions between old rivals India and Pakistan

Sharat Pradhan</B>

POLITICS CONCERNED

Varanasi blast explosives were in pressure cooker:</B>

■ Explosives hidden inside a pressure cooker and a timer device were used to trigger a blast in the Sankatmochan temple in Varanasi, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said yesterday. Patil, who visited Varanasi along with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, said that the Centre was providing all assistance to the state government in maintaining peace in the temple town. ?I have been informed that the explosive was kept in a pressure cooker which had Ammonium Nitrate and a timer device,? he told reporters here after flagging off a BSF expedition to Mount Everest. ?The casualty at the temple was less and more lives were lost at the cantonment railway station,? he said.

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