Two killed in IHK blast

SRINAGAR: At least two people were killed late Saturday in a powerful blast set off by Islamic militants near the main jail in Indian Held Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar, police said.

"So far we have two people dead and 10 others injured. The toll is likely to rise as four people are in critical condition," a police spokesman told a foreign news agency, asking not to be identified.

The police spokesman said the "powerful" explosion was the work of Islamic militants.

An insurgency against Indian rule in the Muslim-majority region has left more than 47,000 people dead since it began twenty years ago, according to official figures.

The explosion, which took place 150 meters (164 yards) from Srinagar's central jail, shattered nearby windows and could be heard in a five-kilometre (three-mile) radius.

"It was a deafening blast. The impact has smashed all the window panes of our home and damaged several other houses," one witness, Sabeya Hameed, said by telephone.

She said she saw some of the casualties being loaded into ambulances to be taken to hospital but she did not know whether they were civilians or security personnel.

One police vehicle and one private car were badly damaged in the blast, police said.

Ramadan, which started August 13, has been marked by increased violence in Kashmir in the past as some militants believe those who die fighting during the holy month gain more heavenly rewards.

However, late last month, officials said violence in heavily militarised Kashmir had fallen to its lowest level since the rebellion started in 1989.

According to official police records, killings have dropped to one a day, from 10 daily in 2001 and a peak of 13 in 1996 when the uprising was at its height with daily bomb attacks and gunbattles.

The level of violence declined sharply after India and Pakistan, whose territorial dispute over Kashmir has triggered two wars, embarked on a peace process in 2004.

The peace process was suspended in the wake of the militant attacks last November on India's financial capital Mumbai in which 166 people died.

Indian officials also attribute the decline in unrest to fencing off the border between the two countries and what they say are more effective counter-insurgency tactics. link..