A coordinated series of explosions struck a park and crowded shopping areas across the Indian capital Delhi Saturday evening, killing at least 18 people and wounding at least 61 more.

A coordinated series of explosions struck a park and crowded shopping areas across the Indian capital Delhi Saturday evening, killing at least 18 people and wounding at least 61 more.

A Muslim militant group claimed responsibility for the bombings.

A number of Indian media outlets received an e-mail sent just before the blasts warning that India was about to receive "the Message of Death."

"In the name of Allah, Indian Mujahideen strikes back once more. ... Do whatever you can. Stop us if you can," said the message.

All of the bombs exploded in, or very near, crowded shopping areas in various parts of New Delhi. The deadliest explosion was believed to be in Gaffar Market in the city's Karol Bagh neighbourhood, a warren of stores popular among wholesalers and bargain-hunters.

They began going off just before sundown - prime time for weekend shoppers in this crowded, chaotic city. Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said there had been five explosions, though Mayor Arti Mehra said there had been as many as seven, and that at least 61 people had been wounded.

"It's a very cowardly act of violence," Mehra told reporters near the scene of two of the explosions, in the M-Block market of the city's upscale Greater Kailash neighbourhood. "They want to break the spirit of Delhi. They have tried this in other places before and they have not succeeded and they will not succeed here. They will not scare us."

The Indian Mujahideen was unknown before May, when it claimed responsibility for a series of bombings in the western city of Jaipur that killed 61 people. The group also said it was responsible for July blasts in the western state of Gujarat that killed at least 45-AP