Curfew imposed after blasts kill 80

Police imposed a daylong curfew in the western Indian city of Jaipur yesterday to prevent any retaliatory violence after a series of blasts in crowded areas left at least 80 people dead.

Authorities suspect Islamic militants were behind the blasts, and they moved quickly to stop any potential clashes between the city's Hindu majority and its sizable Muslim minority. Police were deployed in force and people kept off the streets of Jaipur's old walled city, where all seven bombs went off on Tuesday.

The bombers may have been aiming "to create communal tension," said Vasundhara Raje, the chief minister of Rajasthan state, of which Jaipur is the capital. "But there is peace in the city. The curfew is a precaution."