Kashmir separatists targeted

The separatist attack in Srinagar killed 38 people

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said events such as the attack on Kashmir on Monday, in which separatists killed 38 people, would be included in the campaign against terrorism.

He called the suicide bombing of the state assembly building in Srinagar a "terrible terrorist act".

Powell called the Srinagar bombing a "terrible, terrorist act"

Pakistan, which has agreed to support the US in its global war on terrorism, has already expressed strong reservations about using the war to target separatists in Kashmir.

India, which regularly accuses Pakistan of training and supplying weapons to militant separatists, alleged Pakistan aided and abetted those who carried out Monday's bomb attack. Pakistan insists it only offers Kashmiri separatists moral support and has condemned the latest attack.

Condemning the attack in Srinagar after a meeting with his Indian counterpart Jaswant Singh on Tuesday, Mr Powell said: "It is this kind of terrorism that we are united against.

"We are going after terrorism in a comprehensive way, not just in the present instance of al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden, but terrorism as it affects nations around the world."

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has written to US President George W Bush, expressing India's "understandable anger" at the attack.

Bin Laden 'link'

India even says it has proof of a link between Kashmiri militants and Bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant accused of the attacks on the US.

Junior External Affairs Minister Omar Abdullah said the government had submitted a list of the Kashmiri groups it believes the US should now ban and had been told the request is under consideration.

India blamed Pakistan for the attack

The main political alliance of separatist groups, the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, has expressed its sorrow over the deaths, but said it illustrated the need to address the root cause of the Kashmir conflict.

A senior State Department official, following Mr Powell's comments in India, said that Washington had not yet determined that Monday's attack was linked to Bin Laden and stressed Mr Powell had not intended to suggest that all separatists in Kashmir were terrorists.

"There are people in Kashmir who have legitimate political grievances that need to be addressed," the official told the French news agency AFP.

Suicide attack

A suicide attacker detonated a hijacked government jeep loaded with explosives outside the state assembly building, while at least two other militants wearing police uniforms entered the complex and seized control of a building.

Police say the remaining militants were killed after a gunbattle lasting several hours.

The Jaish-e Mohammad (Army of Mohammad) militant group said it carried out the attack and named the suicide bomber as Pakistani national Wajahat Hussain.

AFP quoted Indian officials as saying that Jaish-e Mohammad had recently threatened attacks on Indian airports, all of which have been on high alert.

The militant group was formed by an Islamic cleric, Maulana Masood Azhar, to fight against Indian rule in Kashmir.

Upsurge in violence

Masood Azhar was released from an Indian jail in December 1999, in exchange for hostages on board a hijacked Indian airliner.

In recent days, there has been an upsurge in violence in Kashmir, with as many as 50 people killed in attacks across the territory.

Militant groups have been fighting for the last decade to end Indian rule in Kashmir.

The territory is claimed by both India and Pakistan, who have fought two wars over it since 1947.