Twin bomb blasts rock Indian town

The explosions occurred within a minute of each other

Police say at least 28 people were killed when two bombs exploded in the main commercial centre of India's north-eastern state of Nagaland.

At least 100 people were injured, many of them seriously, in Saturday morning's blasts in Dimapur town.

The largest explosion occurred at the railway station, which was crowded with passengers at the time. The other bomb went off in the local Hong Kong market.

It is not yet clear who was responsible for the explosions.

There are many separatist rebel groups in north-east India.

There has been an insurgency in Nagaland since 1956, but for the last seven years the state's major separatist group, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), has been negotiating with the Indian government, and its fighters are observing a ceasefire with the government's security forces.

Both factions of the NSCN have condemned the explosions.

Indian intelligence officials say they suspect rebels based in the neighbouring state of Assam to be behind the latest attacks.

Carnage

Eyewitnesses say the two explosions occurred within a minute of each other.

Local trader Alok Pareek said limbs and severed heads were strewn about the railway station and the market, which is openly used to sell contraband goods.

He said the entire structure in front of the station master's office had collapsed.

Naga rebels have been observing a ceasefire

"Many who died were trapped in the debris in the railway station," he said.

Doctors have warned that the death toll could rise.

BBC correspondent Subir Bhaumik says eyewitnesses report that passengers who were waiting for trains at the station were flung on the tracks by the force of the explosion.

He adds that many of them had been delayed in Dimapur for several days because of a strike in the neighbouring Karbi Anglong district of Assam, which connects Nagaland to the rest of the country.

An indefinite curfew has been ordered in Dimapur.

Another explosion on Saturday, in the Santipur market of Kokrajhar district, in the neighbouring state of Assam, killed one trader and injured seven others.

A Bodo tribal guerrilla was killed in an encounter with police in the same area.