Charred bodies, blood, glass and smoking debris littered the scenes as rescuers frantically pulled out the dead and injured while thousands of survivors milled around in shock trying to find out what had happened to missing relatives.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged people to remain calm and said in a statement that "India will win the battle against terrorism." The statement was read on CNN by one of his top advisers, Sanjaya Baru, who said the explosions were the work of terrorists, but did not say who the government thought was behind them.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil also told reporters: "There have been deaths, there have been injuries and three separate blasts have occurred and these are definitely not an accident... someone has done it but who has done it we will investigate."

The first explosion hit New Delhi's main Paharganj market, leaving behind bloodstained streets and mangled stalls of wood and twisted metal. Within minutes came an explosion at the popular Sarojini Nagar market the deadliest, with 39 killed and the bus blast in the Govindpuri neighborhood. Police said at least 60 people were wounded in the first blast and dozens in the other two.

The markets were filled with shoppers doing their last-minute purchases for Diwali -- the Hindu festival of lights and Eid-ul-Fitr.

A third blast was reported at Govindpuri, a largely industrial area also in the south of the city.

"It was so powerful that it shook our police station which is some distance away," a police officer said of the third blast.

Police said a fourth blast reported by some local television stations was a hoax put down to firecrackers.

RED ALERT DECLARED
Police declared a state of emergency and closed all city markets, stepping up security in the commercial hub Mumbai as well as other cities

"I appeal to you. Please disperse from the markets and go back to your families," Home Minister Shivraj Patil said in a televised address.

SEARCH FOR MILITANT LINKS
New Delhi Police commissioner KKPaul said detectives were looking at the possibility that the blasts were the work of militants as a senior police officer told AFP that the explosions appeared to have been triggered with the help of improvised explosive devices.

"It is something that has been planned, that is quite obvious," Delhi state Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told the NDTV television news channel.

"It was someone whose intentions are not good, that is also obvious. it is far too early to say who is behind it."

Defence Minister George Fernandes said he suspected that the blasts were the handiwork of terrorists.

"My impression is some terrorist group must have masterminded the blasts," he said.

Describing the bomb blasts as "extremely alarming", Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani said that investigations would know within a short time who was behind the explosions.

"Earlier, blasts were on buses and trains and almost in all cases, the banned organisation, Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), was found acting in conjunction with the Lashkar-e-Taiba," he said. (Reuters, AP, AFP, NDTV)