Bangladesh: the foreign minister condemns New Delhi blasts as "cowardly, heinous"

Bangladesh strongly condemned Saturday's explosions in the Indian capital as a "cowardly and heinous act against innocent people," the foreign minister said.

"This was a most unfortunate, cowardly and heinous act no human being or nation can tolerate it," Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan told reporters in the capital Dhaka.

A series of blasts tore through packed markets in New Delhi on Saturday, killing at least 49 people, officials said.

"The people of South Asia are determined to fight against such bloodletting terrorism and eliminate this crime against humanity from the region," Khan added.

A recent spate of bombings in Bangladesh targeting courts and government offices have killed four people and injured dozens more. The attacks have been blamed on Islamic militants who want to establish strict Islamic rule in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, which is governed by secular laws.

Since the bombings, law enforcers and border guards have been on high alert across Bangladesh, which is scheduled to host a summit of seven South Asian leaders from Nov. 12-13.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, groups Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.

The summit originally was scheduled to be held in January, but was put off until February because of the Dec. 26 tsunami that hit three member states. It was postponed again after India refused to attend because of the political situation in Nepal, where King Gyanendra seized absolute power on Feb. 1.

Under SAARC's charter, a summit cannot be held if the leader of a member state fails to attend. The seven-nation grouping was set up in 1985 for economic cooperation and to improve relations in the region, reported AP.