The explosions in Jaipur took place in markets and several other areas of the city in Rajasthan, a region dotted with palaces and temples that draw hundreds of thousands of Indian and foreign tourists every year, said A.K. Jain, a top police official in Jaipur.

Rajasthan's police chief, A.S. Gill, put the death toll at 30. "Obviously, it's a terrorist plot," he told reporters.

"The way it has been done, the attempt was to cause the maximum damage to human life," Gill said.

He added bicycles may have been used in the bombings. But he did not say if the explosives were detonated by suicide bombers riding through the crowds or if the bombs had simply been planted on parked bicycles.

Shortly after the bombings, which began just before 7:30 p.m. (1355 GMT), authorities put New Delhi, India's capital, and Mumbai, the country's financial center, on high alert along with several other cities.

Security was also quickly stepped up(增加、加快) at aiports and railway stations across the country, said India's junior home minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal.

One the blasts in Jaipur reportedly hit a market near a temple dedicated to the Hindu monkey god Hanuman. Tuesday is the day of worship set aside for Hanuman, and the temple was packed with people offering prayers on the way home from work.

The Press Trust of India news agency said another blast took place near the Johari Bazaar -- the city's jewelry market, a popular destination for tourists. The tourist season, however, ended in March and there were no immediate indications that foreigners had been caught in the explosions.

A spate(突然一陣) of bombings have plagued (原指瘟疫，此指使受災禍)India since 2005. Last year, two explosions killed 43 people in the southern city of Hyderabad; seven bombings along Mumbai's commuter rail network killed nearly 200 people in July 2006, and three New Delhi markets were bombed in October 2005, killing 62 people.

There have also been a number of smaller explosions, and India has repeatedly blamed the attacks on Islamic militant groups backed by neighbor and rival Pakistan -- an allegation (斷言、主張)Islamabad routinely denies.

While Indian officials had not yet openly blamed Pakistan-based militants (激進分子)for Tuesday's attack, Jaiswal, the junior home minister, suggested the bombings were connected to previous explosions.

"The blasts are part of a big conspiracy," he told reporters. 

一整篇文章都一直在強調一件事，你們發現了嗎?
就是這整件是是plot
同義字有

Conspiracy   scheme   plot   plan