Mumbai/New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS) At least 22 people were killed and scores injured Friday afternoon when two blasts rocked the Maharashtra town of Malegaon, just two months after the train bombings in Mumbai that killed nearly 200 people.

The bombs, placed near an old mosque, went off around 2 p.m. even as people were coming out after offering their Friday prayers in this town in Nashik district, about 300 km from here. The town, of around 800,000 people, is largely populated by Muslims. It is an important centre of handmade textile and is home to several old madrassas.

Police teams reached the area immediately and the injured were rushed to hospital. The condition of many of them is critical, said Inspector General of Police (Nashik) P.K. Jain.

"The blasts occurred near the Noorani mosque near the Bada Kabritan (cemetery) area in the heart of Malegaon soon after Friday prayers. The first blasts occurred at 1.50 pm followed by the second explosion after an interval of two minutes," Jain said.

Curfew has been imposed in the town after the blasts. A statewide alert was sounded by the Maharashtra police even while mobile networks were jammed in the town to prevent spreading of rumours.

"A high alert has been sounded across the state as a precaution and police have been deployed in all sensitive areas," said Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) P S Pasricha.

"The cause of the blasts was not known yet. Senior police official and a special team of the Mumbai police's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has been rushed to Malegaon," Pasricha told IANS.

"The situation in Malegaon is tense but under control," he added.

In New Delhi, Home Secretary V.K. Duggal condemned it as a cowardly act and said the state government had been asked to speak to community leaders to maintain calm.

"Its highly condemnable," Duggal told reporters, adding "its too early" to blame any organisation for the blasts.

"Maharashtra is a sensitive state and we have sensitised the state government. The situation is tense but under control," he added.

Malegaon has had sectarian violence in the past. In May, police recovered a cache of explosives and automatic rifles from the region based on information they said was provided by an arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba militant.

"Whether any terror sleeper cells are involved in the blasts is being looked into. The region has become a hot-bed for Islamist groups and is also very communally sensitive," a police official told IANS.

The blasts came days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that intelligence agencies had warned of more terrorist attacks across the country, possibly on economic and religious targets as well as on nuclear installations.

A series of seven blasts along Mumbai's train network on July 7 had claimed nearly 200 lives.