SRINAGAR, India – A parked car containing explosives detonated Thursday in the violence-wracked Jammu-Kashmir (search) state as a paramilitary convoy passed by, wounding seven troopers, police said.
The explosion occurred in the Hyderpora (search) suburb of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's only Muslim-majority state. The paramilitary troopers have fought Islamic militants (search) during a 14-year insurgency in the region.
The Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen and Al-Mansurian groups claimed joint responsibility for the bombing in a call to a local news agency.
The blast occurred as leaders of an umbrella organization of Kashmiri separatist groups discussed who would travel to New Delhi next week for the separatists' first meeting with the Indian government.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference consists of groups that reject Indian sovereignty and have refused to participate in Indian elections. Some of them have militant wings and some were former militant groups.
The organization is a legal one, although its leaders often are arrested for holding protests. Some have been accused of continuing to support the Pakistan-based Islamic militants fighting the insurgency in which more than 65,000 people have died.
The militants say only force will drive India out of its portion of the region, which has been the source of two wars between India and Muslim-majority Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947.
Although India and Pakistan agreed in November to a cease-fire along their entire frontier -- including the disputed line dividing Kashmir between them, militant groups say they will continue attacks to separate the region from Indian control.
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