India Bomb Blast After U.S. Visit

A bomb exploded in a parking lot in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Thursday, injuring up to 10 people after the visit of U.S. Secretary Paul O'Neill, police said.

Police superintendent Ramachandra Raju said the bomb was placed in a motorbike.

"It exploded, resulting in injuries to six to 10 persons," he told the private Star News channel.

Hyderabad is the capital of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, which has been wracked in recent days by attacks by suspected leftist militants.

Hours before the bomb explosion, O'Neill visited a high-tech center in the city, which is one of India's software hubs. He is visiting Hyderabad before attending a meeting of the G-20 nations' finance ministers in New Delhi.

Raju, the police officer, declined to say who might have caused the explosion.

However, the Maoist militants of the outlawed People's War Group have carried out a string of attacks in recent days in the state. On Wednesday, they blew up a railroad station, forcing authorities to divert several trains to other routes. There were no casualties.

That attack came two days after a land mine exploded under a passenger bus traveling through a forest area in Andhra Pradesh frequented by leftist guerrillas, killing at least 14 people and wounding 16 others. Police blamed the People's War Group, saying the rebels mistook the bus for a police convoy.

The rebels mostly target rich landowners and police, who they say collude to exploit landless farmers and rural laborers. More than 6,000 people have been killed since the rebels — inspired by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong — began fighting in 1981.

The rebel group is active in five Indian states, and Andhra Pradesh is its stronghold.