Suspected militants set off a grenade in Kashmir's main city Srinagar this afternoon and exploded a crude bomb in another town as Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee began a two-day visit to the region.
Soldiers were hunting for suspected militants thought to be hiding in a hotel next to a government telegraph office where two policemen were wounded in a grenade attack.
The attack was followed by gunshots, a spokesman of the Border Security Forcesaid. It was not clear who had fired the shots, he said.
Another grenade was simultaneously hurled at an army patrol in another part of Srinagar injuring one soldier. An hour earlier another soldier was wounded when an explosive devicewent off in Baramulla town in northern Kashmir.
Mr Vajpayee, his deputy Mr Lal Krishna Advani, and chief ministers of several states are holding a meeting on centre-state relations in Srinagar to underline what New Delhi says is a gradual return to normalcy.
More than 38,000 people have died since the revolt against Indian rule took off in the Muslim majority region in late 1989.