Kashmir fruit-market bomb kills 6, wounds 25

A bomb exploded in the main wholesale market for fruit in Indian-controlled Kashmir yesterday, killing six people and injuring 25 others, security forces said.

The condition of some of those wounded was serious and the death toll could increase, said Tirath Acharya, a spokesman for the Border Security Force.

The bomb was planted in a car parked at the Parimpora market in the outskirts of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state.

An Indian army brigadier was wounded by the explosion as his convoy passed through the area. Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mukhtiar Singh said the convoy appeared to have been the target of the attack. Three soldiers were also injured.

Brigadier S.K. Chopra's jeep was blown "nearly 36m by the impact of the blast," said M.A. Shah, a police officer at the scene.

The fruit market is along a road linking Srinagar with Jammu, the state's winter capital.

Fruits, mainly apples, from all over the state are brought to Parimpora before being dispatched to the rest of the country. Jammu-Kashmir is India's second-largest apple-growing state.

Police blamed the attack on Islamic guerrillas fighting for Kashmir's independence, or its merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan. More than 63,000 people have died in the 13-year insurgency in India's only Muslim-majority state.

The Kashmir region is divided between India and Pakistan, although both claim it in its entirety.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, which came amid threats from rebel groups to step up attacks in the region.

Violence has been on the rise in the Himalayan region since the killing of a key guerrilla commander by Indian forces a week ago.

Also yesterday, an army officer was killed and four soldiers were wounded in a gun battle with guerrillas in the village of Dangiwacha, about 70km north of Srinagar, police said.

Paramilitary soldiers also killed two suspected rebels after raiding their hide-out in Kellar, a village 65km south of Srinagar, said Acharya, the spokesman of Border Security Force who goes by one name.