Kashmir attack on Hindu pilgrims

Security had been stepped up to protect the pilgrims

At least seven people have been killed and more than 20 people injured in two explosions in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said.

The blasts occurred in a kitchen which provides pilgrims free food near the town of Katra - the base for Hindu pilgrims climbing up to the Vaishno Devi shrine as part of an annual pilgrimage.

Most of the victims were said to be pilgrims.

One report said the explosions caused by grenades, but this could not be confirmed.

Deputy Chief Minister of Indian-administered Kashmir, Mangatram Sharma, told the BBC that he and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed are likely to visit the site on Tuesday morning.

Security had been stepped up to protect the thousands of pilgrims who make the annual journey to the Amarnath cave - one of Hinduism's holiest shrines.

But Mr Sharma said that more security had been focused around Amarnath than Vaishno Devi.

'Wrecking harmony'

India's junior interior minister, ID Swami, was swift to blame Pakistan, telling Indian television the incidents had been the work of "militants".

He also said the attack had been deliberately carried out at a time when relations between India and Pakistan had been improving.

"Whenever relation are improving between India and Pakistan, things like this take place," he was quoted by French news agency AFP as saying.

"This has been done to wreck religious harmony between Hindus and Muslims."

In recent months India and Pakistan have moved to improve relations, re-establishing transport ties and taking steps to restore full diplomatic relations.

Last year, eight pilgrims were killed and many more injured during the pilgrimage in an attack blamed on separatists.

Thousands of Hindu devotees from across the world visit Katra each year, climbing for miles to worship a Hindu goddess at the Vaishno Devi cave shrine, which is 37 miles (60 km) north-east of the city of Jammu.