Six dead in Kashmir blast

People nearby left their homes in panic to search for relatives

A bomb has killed at least six people and wounded about 30 in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The device, in a car parked next to a fruit market in the summer capital, Srinagar, exploded as an army convoy drove by.

Two of the victims were reportedly blown apart by the force of the blast, and Indian officials fear the number of dead could rise further.

The separatist militant group Hizbul Mujahideen said it carried out the attack, but claimed it had intended to target the army convoy.

However, ordinary civilians were the casualties in a blast that also damaged a private lorry, two motor-rickshaws and a couple of residential houses.

The bombing is the latest in a series of major attacks by militants in the region in the last 10 days, during which than 90 people have been killed in various violent incidents.

Businessman Abdul Rehman was on his scooter waiting for the convoy to pass "when suddenly there was a huge blast and an army jeep was tossed in the air and rolled over".

"Everyone ran helter-skelter. There were shrieks and screams everywhere," labourer Ghulam Rasool told French news agency AFP.

Indian troops sealed off the area after people living nearby left their homes in panic or to search for relatives.

Although the army convoy was not directly hit, a brigadier was injured when his vehicle was tossed into the air.

Spate of violence

The Kashmir region is divided between India and Pakistan, although both claim it in its entirety.

Militants have carried out a series of attacks since the Indian prime minister's visit to Jammu and Kashmir 10 days ago.

Mr Vajpayee chaired a two-day meeting of chief ministers in Srinagar, which he said was testimony to an improvement in the security situation.

Observers say the militants are out to disprove the claim.

Since then, violence has claimed the lives of more than 90 people, including Indian security personnel, civilians and militants.

The BBC's Altaf Hussain, in Srinagar, says a worrying factor for the Indian authorities is that most of the attacks have taken place in the capital, Srinagar, and along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

The spate of violence also follows the killing by Indian security forces of Ghazi Baba, one of the leaders of the separatist group Jaish-e-Mohammad.

He is alleged to have been one of the conspirators behind an attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi in 2001.