One killed, 46 wounded in Kashmir explosions

December 8, 2000
Web posted at: 10:12 PM HKT (1412 GMT)

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) -- A grenade attack and land mine explosion killed one civilian and wounded 46 on Friday in India's strife-torn state of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

Militants first hurled a grenade and followed it by firing at a police patrol in Shpoian Bazar in Pulwama district, 32 km (20 miles) south of Srinagar, the state's summer capital, police said.

Forty-five people, including three policemen, were wounded in the blast. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Later on Friday, a civilian was killed and another wounded in a land mine explosion near the Pakistan border in Uri, 100 km (60 miles) west of Srinagar, police said.

On Thursday, four civilians were killed and 28 wounded in two separate grenade explosions in the Himalayan state.

The grenade attacks come after Indian troops stopped their offensive against separatist guerrillas for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Most of the militant groups have rejected the temporary cease fire, which began November 28, vowing to press on with their struggle against Indian rule.

Nearly a dozen militant groups are fighting New Delhi's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, where authorities say more than 30,000 people have been killed in nearly 11 years of rebellion.

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