Deadly blast near Kashmir school

The injured have been taken to nearby hospitals

At least 14 people, including two school pupils and three soldiers, have been killed by in a car bomb attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The blast occurred outside a government-run high school in the town of Pulwama, some 30km (18 miles) south of the summer capital, Srinagar.

The attack came as Pakistan said it was hopeful of a quick solution to the Kashmir dispute.

A number of militant groups are fighting Indian forces in Kashmir.

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Kashmir dispute

It is not clear who carried out Monday's attack.

Some 100 people were injured, with many of them rushed to nearby hospitals.

A teacher working in the school told the BBC that the building has been partially damaged by the blast.

Retired government employee Ghulam Mohammed told AFP by telephone that it was a "massive explosion that brought us out of our homes".

"I could see people lying on the ground, some of them bleeding profusely."

Police firing

Police suspect the bomb was in a car parked on the roadside near the school.

After the blast angry demonstrators took to the street shouting anti-government slogans, police say, protesting at what they said was the slow reaction of emergency services to the blast.

Police opened fire to disperse the protesters and say three people were hurt in the firing.

This is the second time an explosion has taken place near a school in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Last month, two women were killed in a grenade explosion near a school in Srinagar - more than 40 people, most of them boys and girls at the school, were injured.

Pakistan hopeful

Earlier on Monday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he was hopeful of a quick solution to the Kashmir dispute with India.

The issue is redeployment and withdrawal of forces from eyeball-to-eyeball contact President Musharraf

He said the leaders in both countries now had the political will to reach a conclusion, and that results could achieved in a very short time.

His comments come a day after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he hoped to turn the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir, often described as the world's highest battlefield, into a "mountain of peace".

"The most important thing is for the leadership to have the will to reach a conclusion and I see that at this moment the leadership does have the desire and the will," Gen Musharraf said during a trip to Malaysia.

Pakistan and India have been engaged in a peace process for the past 18 months and have held a series of talks on various issues, including Kashmir and Siachen.

"The issue is redeployment and withdrawal of forces from eyeball-to-eyeball contact," Gen Musharraf said.

"It needs negotiating what position we will relocate our forces. That is going on, and I am sure we will reach a conclusion."