Blood-soaked bodies and limbs lay strewn as the injured groaned in pain as panicked devotees rushed for their lives through a narrow gate of a mosque-cum-graveyard after a blast just after the Friday prayers in Malegaon in Maharashtra on Friday afternoon.

A near stampede situation broke out immediately as thousands of devotees, including children, tried to get away from the explosion site, trampling the dead and the seriously injured, who lay in their way.

Children, who stumbled on the blood-soaked bodies, were helped by the elders in getting away from the scene. People used blankets and bed-sheets to ferry the injured to the available mode of transport, including pushcarts, to take them to hospitals.

At least 37 people were killed and over 100 injured in the twin blasts in this communally sensitive town in Nashik district of Maharashtra, Inspector General (Nashik Range) P K Jain said.

"I was standing at a shop outside the mosque after I finished my prayers, when I heard loud explosions and suddenly everything was covered under a heavy blanket of smoke," said Muzambir Sheikh, an eyewitness.

Some of the victims were beggars who had gathered at the mosque on the occasion of 'Shab-e-barat' or the Night of Fortune, when Muslims hold night-long prayers seeking divine blessings, exchange sweets with neighbours and relatives and set off fireworks.

Heart-rending scenes were witnessed at the site as children ran away with tears in the eyes and people seen helping those stumbling on the bodies. People alleged that there was a delay in police action and expressed their anger by pelting stones at police and fire brigade vehicles.

"There was no immediate response from the police and the bodies were removed after a long time," Sheikh said. There was a gathering of at least 5,000-8,000 people at the site at the time of the incident, according to the eye-witnesses.