Explosions rip through southern Indian city A police official in Hyderabad said the two explosions were about 400 feet apart. Television images showed the area littered with shattered glass, clothes, bags and shoes, with people rushing around in panic. Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said the death toll may rise. Local police initially said 15 people had died. "We got some information two days ago about a possible attack, though it was not specific about what kind of an attack or where it will take place," Shinde told reporters in New Delhi. We had put several Indian cities on high security alert upon getting the information. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, and police did not identify any particular suspects. Police said they were having trouble clearing the packed neighborhood, which has a maze of narrow lanes and shops. "We are trying to control the situation," Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma told reporters. The onlookers crowd is very high. We are trying to deal with it. A police official in New Delhi said a man arrested in October and identified as Syed Maqbool had confessed to being part of a team that conducted a reconnaissance mission by motorcycle in several parts of Hyderabad, including the area where Thursday's explosions occurred. The police department put the information in a press release that month. "This is a very congested area," Sarve Satyanarayana, a member of parliament from the Dilsukhnagar area, said in a telephone interview. A lot of people gather there all the time. It is a commercial area. There is a bus depot, shops, eateries, one big temple and cinema halls. The lawmaker added: "Such attacks will spoil the image of our city. I don't know who has committed this heinous crime. My workers have been calling me nonstop, and some of them are weeping on the phone. In addition to onlookers, several politicians began visiting the site, pushing through crowds even as investigators in blue uniforms tried to comb through the area to collect evidence from the debris. English news channel NDTV 24X7 appealed to the public to stay away from the site to avoid hampering the police investigation. A local politician in Hyderabad, Ahmed Balala, said the sound of the two powerful blasts could be heard across the area. "I visited one hospital where I saw at least 25 injured," Balala told the Hindi-language ABP News channel. But the wounded have been sent to four hospitals, so maybe the numbers are higher. "They were very loud explosions," Balala said. This area has been chosen because it is a very crowded area.... Both these explosions happened within minutes of each other. An intelligence official in New Delhi said investigators were trying to ascertain whether timers were attached to the explosives. He said Hyderabad is considered a "sensitive target" because it has been the scene of terrorist attacks before. In 2008, two powerful bomb blasts killed 40 people. A national security team is heading to Hyderabad from the capital to study the nature of the explosives used, the Press Trust of India reported.