SRINAGAR, April 30: Nine people, including five militants, were killed and eight schoolchildren seriously injured in incidents across occupied Kashmir, police said on Wednesday.

Four people were wounded when a hand grenade exploded shortly after the chief of the long-ruling National Conference party, Omar Abdullah, addressed a rally at Hardi village of Poonch district, police said. Mr Abdullah had left before the attack.

One of the suspects fatally shot a civilian bystander who tried unsuccessfully to overpower him, a police spokesman said.

A group of militants attacked the residence of the held state’s finance minister on Tuesday night, a police spokesman said.

They hurled hand grenades and opened fire with automatic rifles on the ancestral home of finance minister Muzaffar Beigh in Chandusa village.

Unidentified men killed a village head and injured three in a grenade attack on a crowded marketplace.

Earlier in the day, a boy was killed and four others injured when their school bus was caught in a cross-fire between militants and Indian troops near Bandipora.

The injured include two schoolchildren, the driver and conductor of the bus.

Indian troops claimed killing five militants in encounters on Wednesday and Tuesday night.

Two Muslims, one of whom was believed to be a police informer, were also shot dead by suspected militants.—AFP