An explosion at a mosque in Hyderabad, India, has killed at least five people, according to local officials.
The 'crude bomb' attack at the entrance of the Mecca Masjid mosque occurred towards the end of Friday prayers, leaving many seriously injured.
Speaking to the Associated Press, witness Abdul Quader described the attack: "I was very close to the spot of the blast. As soon as prayers ended, we were about to get up, there was a huge deafening blast sending bodies into the air.
"People started running around helter-skelter, there was such confusion. People were bleeding, running around in a very bad condition."
Two further live bombs were located and defused near the mosque and local officials appealed for calm after angry onlookers pelted riot police with stones, following the cordoning off of the surrounding area.
Hyderabad MP Asaluddin Owaisi told local television reporters that the bomb could have caused even greater destruction: "On Friday, at least 7 to 8,000 people perform the namaz (prayers) over there and the fatalities would have been much higher if the bomb took place five-six minutes before."
A similar attack on a mosque in Maharashtra, in western India, killed 35 people last year. The motive for both explosions is still unknown.
