At least three tourists were killed and seven wounded on Thursday when a bomb planted by suspected Islamic rebels blew up a tourist bus in Indian Kashmir’s summer capital, police said.
The attack came minutes after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ended a meeting in Indian Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, aimed at restoring peace in the revolt-hit Himalayan region.
”A bomb planted inside a tourist bus exploded,” area police chief Gazanfar, who goes by one name, told Agence France-Presse as doctors at a hospital said an infant was among those killed.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack but the police chief said it was ”believed to have been carried out by militants”.
The tourists were from the western Indian state of Gujarat, police said.
On Monday, an Indian tourist and his taxi driver were killed and four tourists wounded in a grenade attack in Srinagar.
Kashmir is in the grip of a 16-year-old Islamic separatist insurgency that has left tens of thousands dead.
The two-day conference to discuss the region’s future attended by Singh and pro-India politicians had been strongly opposed by militants.
Premier Singh, speaking after the conference, said that the heavy Indian troop level in Kashmir could be reduced if violence lessened. — AFP
