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New Kashmiri chief gets welcome `gift'

Five people including a suicide bomber were killed and more than a dozen wounded yesterday in a car bomb blast that Islamic militants said was a "gift" to Indian Kashmir's incoming chief minister.

Police said the explosion took place in the Nowgam area on the outskirts of the territory's summer capital of Srinagar.

"We have five killed, including the suicide bomber," a police spokesman said, adding that more than 12 people were wounded, including five policemen.

Islamic militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to the local news agency Current News Service (CNS).

"Our suicide bomber targeted a security patrol," the spokesman for the group told CNS.

"The car bomb is our first gift to Ghulam Nabi Azad," Abu Qudama, spokesman for Jaish-e-Mohammed, told another news agency, the Kashmir News Service (KNS).

Azad was to be sworn in yesterday as the Himalayan state's new chief minister, as part of a power-sharing deal between the regional Peoples Democratic Party and Azad's Congress party. The PDP's chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed completed his three years in power yesterday.

Qudama identified the suicide bomber as Mohammed Mubashir Hussain. He told KNS that Hussain hailed from the Pakistani zone of divided Kashmir.

The Himalayan territory is split between India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both. The arch-rivals have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.

The police spokesman said investigators were uncertain of the suicide bomber's intended target, but that the explosion took place after the bomber ignored police controls.

"Our policemen have foiled their [the militants'] attempts to carry out an attack," senior police officer Javed Maqdoomi said.

In the leadup to the blast, the bombers car was signalled to stop by a police patrol in the center of Srinagar but the driver ignored the signal and sped off, police sources said.

The car was again ordered to stop by police in Nowgam, at which stage the attacker detonated the explosives-laden car.
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