Two explosions took place minutes apart late Thursday in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, killing at least 20

A deadly series of attacks struck the southern Indian city of Hyderabad Thursday evening, killing at least 20 people and leaving the country in a state of high alert.

A pair of bombs exploded outside a cinema in Dilsukh Nagar, a crowded commercial area, about two minutes apart at around 7pm (930pm Singapore time). One of the bombs exploded near a bus stop while the other one went off in a packed market, making the twin blasts the worst bombing in more than a year in India, according to local officials. More than 50 others were injured in the deadly bombings.

Indian authorities immediately denounced this as "an obvious terror attack".  No one has stepped forward yet to claim responsibility for the killings.

According to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N. Kiran Reddy, the explosions were intended to incite communal violence in the Muslim populated city. Nonetheless, the India’s external affairs ministry did not eliminate the possibility of foreign involvement.

The bomb blasts happened less than two weeks after the hanging of Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri man who killed 14 people during a staged military attack on the country's parliament in 2001. The execution sparked violent clashes in Indian-ruled Kashmir, where anti-India sentiment continues to run deep.

Other than housing a considerably-sized Muslim community, Hyderabad is also one of India's major IT hubs, home to global software giants like Microsoft, Oracle and Google and second only to Bangalore.

Click on for photos of the deadly blast.