Grenade attack in Kashmir kills two, wounds 28

SRINAGAR, India -- Suspected Islamic guerrillas tossed a grenade and opened fire at a meeting between a minister and health officials in Indian-controlled Kashmir Friday, killing two people and wounding 28, police said.

Two Islamic militant groups claimed responsibility.

Witnesses said an explosion occurred as Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, the rural development minister in the government of Jammu-Kashmir state, was about to enter a school after meeting with doctors and health volunteers.

"The place was packed with people when I heard the blast," said Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Parra, a local resident who was wounded in the attack and was recovering in a Srinagar hospital.

Sayeed was shot in the leg, said Pervez Dewan, a top state administrator. Sayeed, the Congress Party's senior representative in the state's governing coalition, was flown to Srinagar for treatment.

A local school teacher and a Larnu resident were killed, Dewan said. Several government officials and two bodyguards accompanying the minister were among the wounded.

In anonymous calls to several local news agencies, the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen and Tehreek-e-Jehad-e-Islami militant groups claimed joint responsibility for the attack, Press Trust of India reported.

More than a dozen Islamic militant groups have been fighting security forces in the region since 1989, seeking independence for Indian-held Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan. More than 63,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed during the insurgency.

India accuses Pakistan of training and funding the militants. Pakistan denies the charge, saying it only offers them diplomatic support.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over control of Kashmir since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.