Suicide bomber kills six in Kashmir

Indian forces are on high alert

By Mike Wooldridge in Delhi

At least six people have been killed by a bomb which exploded near an army headquarters in the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, Srinagar.

The dead include civilians and at least one soldier, and a man said by the authorities to have been a suicide bomber.

Two different Kasmiri separatist groups have claimed responsibility for the attack, which is the third time in just over a year the army headquarters has been targeted.

Initially there was speculation that it could have been a car bomb, but the authorities now say they believe it was an attempted suicide bombing.

The latest blast comes three days after Kashmiri separatist militants attacked another strategic target, the historic Red Fort in Delhi.

Spate of bombs

There was a similar attempt in the same location last April. Thirteen months ago, a suicide squad also succeeded in entering the headquarters.

Security has been stepped up at the Red Fort

No sooner had one Kashmiri militant group said it carried out the latest bombing then another sought to take responsibility for it, identifying the suicide bomber as Abdullah Bhai from Birmingham in Britain.

These are different groups from the one that claimed responsibility for the Red Fort attack, but this will also be seen as a response to the Indian government's present unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir.

The most hardline of the groups that have been waging a separatist campaign in Kashmir for the past decade have rejected the ceasefire, dismissing it as a propaganda ploy.