The attack came days ahead of the third anniversary of a deadly blast at a mosque in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, according to police commissioner Abdul Kayuum Khan. A total of 15 people died in or shortly after the blast, which federal investigators attributed to Hindu hard-liners.

Khan described it as a terrorist attack, but didn’t name the group he suspects.

The assailants fled after the attack in the Muslim-dominated district of Shah Ali Banda in Hyderabad, he said.  A similar attack had occurred in the city on the second anniversary of the mosque attack on May 18 last year. Hyderabad has a population of 8 million, nearly 40 percent Muslims.

In March, Hindu-Muslim rioting in the Shah Ali Banda locality left 75 people injured. Last week, the city police arrested one person and said he was planning to carry out an attack in the city. Police claimed that he was a member of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. India blames the group for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

Early this month, an Indian court sentenced Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, the only surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks to death.