India ? A series of near-simultaneous explosions ripped through courthouse complexes Friday in three north Indian cities, killing at least 16 lawyers and injuring dozens of other people, officials said.

Federal authorities blamed militants trying to spark unrest between India’s Hindu majority and Muslim minority for the blasts in Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad, although a legal group noted all the explosions came in a state where lawyers had decided earlier this year not to defend terrorism suspects.

At least 11 lawyers were killed and 45 people were wounded in three explosions in Varanasi, one of Hinduism’s holiest cities, said Mayawati, the top elected official of Uttar Pradesh state, where all three cities are located. She uses only one name.