Kashmiri separatists hurled a grenade at a security post in Indian Kashmir wounding 17 people, police said today.
Police said seven of the injured were in a critical condition after the Monday night grenade attack in the Kishtwar area of Doda district in the south of Jammu and Kashmir state.
Violence in the region, at the centre of an eight-month military standoff between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, has been on the rise since New Delhi announced it would hold state elections in Kashmir this month.
Militants fighting New Delhi's rule in India's only Muslim majority state have told people to boycott the polls and have threatened to attack those taking part. The elections start on September 16th.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Islamic militants and sending them into Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan denies the charges but says it provides moral and diplomatic support to what it calls the legitimate freedom struggle of the Kashmiri people.
Officials say more than 35,000 people have been killed since a rebellion broke out in the Himalayan region at the end of 1989. Separatists put the toll at more than 80,000.