Kashmir bus bomb kills seven

Tensions have risen since the collapse of the summit in Agra

A powerful bomb blast has hit a private bus in the Indian-administered Kashmir, killing seven people - five of them soldiers.

Another dozen people, most of them soldiers, were also injured in the land mine explosion near Ashmuqam, 75 km (46 miles) south of the state capital Srinagar.

No group has admitted carrying out the attack although the police said militants set off the landmine by remote control and were aware that the members of the security forces were on board.

A BBC correspondent in Srinagar says there has been an increase in violence in the territory since the failure of the recent summit between India and Pakistan.

The soldiers had boarded the bus in the town of Ashmuqam and it travelled for 12 km (seven miles) before the blast occurred, officials said.

Bus destroyed

The explosion destroyed the bus, and left a large crater in the road, witnesses said.

Senior police and the emergency services rushed to the spot and immediately sealed off the area as a search was launched for those responsible.

The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital , where one of the soldiers died.

A police spokesman described the condition of two of the injured civilians there as "serious".

Further clashes

Violence has been stepped up in the insurgency-plagued state after an India-Pakistan summit at Agra focused on resolving the bitter Kashmir dispute collapsed last month.

Elsewhere, another three Indian soldiers were killed by shelling from across the Line of Control which separates the Indian and Pakistani parts of Kashmir.

In another incident two militants have been killed in clashes with Indian troops in Kupwara and Budgam districts.

More than 350 people, including militants and Indian soldiers have been killed since the Agra conference.

The main separatist alliance, All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) discussed the post-Agra situation at a general meeting of its general council in Srinagar on Wednesday.

In his independence day speech earlier this month, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offered to hold free and fair elections in Jammu and Kashmir.