Kashmir grenade attack kills five

A girl wounded in the mosque attack is rushed to hospital

At least five people have been killed in a grenade attack close to a mosque in Indian-administered Kashmir, according to police.

Eyewitnesses say unidentified men threw the grenade into a crowded area during Friday prayers at the mosque in the district of Pulwama.

The motive for the attack is not clear. No group has claimed responsibility.

The incident comes days before top officials of India and Pakistan resume peace talks.

Around 36 people were wounded in Friday's attack.

"As soon as I entered the mosque, there was a loud explosion outside. I thought the mosque would fall down," one worshipper, Nazir Ahmed, told Reuters news agency.

"When I ran out, I saw people writhing in their own pools of blood and screaming in pain.

Many of the wounded were rushed to hospital in Srinagar, the state's summer capital.

Exhibition attack

In Srinagar itself, three civilians and three paramilitary soldiers were injured in a grenade blast a short while later.

It took place near an exhibition ground where the state's chief minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, was due to open an annual exhibition of Kashmiri handicraft.

More than 60,000 people have been killed since 1989, when an armed separatist insurgency began in Indian-administered Kashmir.

On the Pakistani side of the Line of Control that divides Kashmir, five girls were killed when they mistook a mortar bomb for a toy, officials say.

Both sides of the Line of Control are littered with unexploded ordnance.