Kashmir woman leader survives attack: 5 killed

Sakina Itoo, 36, lawmaker and a leader of the National Conference party, was coming out of a shrine along with dozens of her supporters when the militants struck, a police spokesman said.

"Itoo received splinter injuries but she is out of danger" the spokesman said, adding that a prominent former state lawmaker, Ghulam Nabi Dar, and four others were killed in the explosion.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack which took place in Kulgam, 65km south of Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state.

Five children and six policemen were among the wounded in the explosion. Hundreds of people, many of them wailing, rushed to hospitals looking for their relatives.

"The explosion was deafening, I saw people falling on each other ... bleeding and screaming for help," Mohammad Shafi, who witnessed the attack, told Reuters.

Itoo, a former tourism minister, has survived five previous attempts on her life since an Islamic insurgency broke out in the region in 1989. More than 45,000 people have been killed since then.

Her father, a former speaker of the state legislature and senior leader of the National Conference party, was killed by militants in 1995.

Violence has increased in the state in recent months as summer melts snow in the region's mountain passes, allowing easier movement of militants. Kashmir is part-ruled by nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, but claimed in full by both.