NEW DELHI, Nov 2: Five people, including a suicide bomber, were killed and over a dozen wounded in Wednesday’s car bomb blast in the Nowgam area on the outskirts of Srinagar, police said.

Islamic militant group Jaish-i-Mohammed immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in telephone calls to a local news agency.

“The car bomb is our first gift to Ghulam Nabi Azad (occupied Kasmir’s incoming chief minister),” Abu Qudama, spokesman for the Jaish-i-Mohammed, told the Kashmir News Service.

Azad was later on Wednesday to be sworn in as the Himalayan state’s new chief minister, as part of a power-sharing deal between the regional Peoples Democratic Party and Azad’s Congress party. PDP’s chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed completed his three years in power on Wednesday.—AFP