HYDERABAD: At least 15 people were killed and 52 injured when three bombs in crowded areas shook the southern Indian city of Hyderabad late on Thursday, police said.

“Fifteen people are dead and the death toll could rise,” a police officer who declined to be named told AFP. He said more than 50 were injured, many of them critically.

Another senior police officer at the scene of one of the explosions, Amit Garg, put the number of injured at 52.

“These were three separate bomb blasts in (the Hyderabad suburb of) Dilsukh Nagar,” said Garg.

The officer said the bombs targeted crowded areas, including one which exploded in a small eatery.

A top national police team had been rushed to Hyderabad, said R.K. Singh, India's home secretary, adding that all major cities nationwide were on high alert.