SRINAGAR, July 27: Four people died and at least five were wounded on Saturday when unidentified attackers threw a grenade at a crowded market in occupied Kashmir.

The attack coincided with the arrival of US Secretary of State Colin Powell in New Delhi.

“Militants hurled a grenade at a security patrol at busy Budgam town. The grenade missed the target and exploded near shops, killing two civilians on the spot,” a police official said.

Two of the wounded died on the way to a hospital, police said. “The dead include a father and son.”

Budgam town lies 15km west of Srinagar.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack came just hours before Powell landed in New Delhi to start a weekend visit to Pakistan and India.

One Indian soldier was hurt when Mujahideen fired a grenade at an army camp near Tatoo Ground in Srinagar, police said.

Three more people were killed in separate shootouts since Friday evening, police said.

HUNGER STRIKE: More than twenty activists of the All party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) went on a 20-hour hunger strike to protest human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.

Javid Ahmad Mir, acting chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), along with more twenty activists went on a hunger strike in Srinagar on Saturday, witnesses said.

“By today’s hunger strike Hurriyat wants to draw world attention towards the deteriorating human rights situation in (held) Kashmir,” said a statement from Hurriyat.—Reuters