Six killed in fruit market blast

A bomb exploded in the main wholesale fruit market in Indian-controlled Kashmir today, killing six people and injuring 25 others, security forces said.

The condition of some of those wounded was serious and the death toll could increase, said Tirath Acharya, a spokesman for the Border Security Force.

The bomb was planted in a car parked at the Parimpora market on the outskirts of Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s Jammu-Kashmir state.

An Indian army brigadier was wounded by the explosion as his convoy passed through the area, police officer M.A. Shah said.

It was not clear if the army convoy was the intended target, Shah said. The fruit market is along a road linking Srinagar with Jammu, the state’s winter capital.

The car was blown “nearly 40 yards by the impact of the blast”, Shah said.

Fruit, mainly apples, from all over the state is brought to Parimpora before being dispatched to the rest of the country. Jammu-Kashmir is India’s second-largest apple-growing state.

Police blamed the attack on Islamic guerrillas fighting for Kashmir’s independence, or its merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan. More than 63,000 people have died in the 13-year insurgency in India’s only Muslim-majority state.

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

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, which came amid threats from rebel groups to step up attacks in the region.

Violence has been on the rise in the Himalayan region since the killing of a key guerrilla commander by Indian forces a week ago.