Bombs rock Pakistan cities

The first bomb exploded in a crowded Lahore market

At least 60 people have been injured after a series of bombs exploded in several cities in Pakistan.

More than 35 people were wounded in a blast in a market place in Lahore and at least 20 people were injured when a bomb went off on a bus in Hyderabad.

We were expecting India-sponsored terrorist activities

Inspector Malik Asif, Punjab police

An army staff college in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan came under rocket fire and there were reports of smaller explosions in Faisalabad and Kharian.

No one has admitted carrying out the attacks, but Pakistani police accused India of seeking retaliation for a Kashmiri guerilla attack on Delhi's Red Fort which killed three people.

"We were expecting India-sponsored terrorist activities after mujahedeen hit New Delhi's Red Fort," said Punjab police Inspector Malik Asif.

Market blast

The first bomb in Lahore caused a fire that destroyed several stalls and shattered glass in nearby buildings in Lunda Bazaar, near the congested Delhi Gate neighborhood.

The bomb was apparently left in a shopping bag near stalls selling used clothing. The explosion triggered a stampede as fire and smoke billowed from the burning stalls

"I was buying clothes for my children when a deafening bang threw me on the ground," said witness Mohammed Alamgir.

"I felt a wave of heat and fire burn my face, then I don't remember what happened."

The bomb exploded as people were busy shopping for the Muslim festival of Eid-ul Fitr, which follows the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Rocket attack

Several children were reportedly among the injured when the second device exploded on a passenger bus in Hyderabad. Three people were injured in smaller explosions in Kharian and Faisalabad.

No one was injured in the rocket attack on the Quetta barracks, which was the fourth attack on the area in the last six months.

No group has claimed responsibility, but an underground Baluch nationalist group has been blamed for several similar attacks in the region.

Spy agencies implicated

Some 34 explosions have occurred in Pakistan this year, claiming more than 80 lives.

Many of the blasts, including one in a market in the capital Islamabad in September that killed 16 people, have been blamed on the intelligence agency of rival neighbour India.

Pakistan and India, locked in a bitter dispute over the Himalayan state of Kashmir, routinely accuse each other of sponsoring sabotage and subversion across their borders.

The 53-year old row over Kashmir, which is divided between the two countries, has caused two of the three wars between the two countries since their independence in 1947.