2 soldiers killed in attack near Kashmir CM's house

Spokesman Neeraj, who uses only one name, said the injured officer had been moved to hospital.

Two huge explosions were heard at around 10:10 am (0440 GMT) near Sayeed's residence in downtown Srinagar followed by a burst of gunfire, police and witnesses said.

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Sayeed was not in his home at the time of the blasts, the state information department said, having left at 7:00 am for an official function in Lucknow and Aligarh, central India.

However, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti, who is president of the ruling People's Democratic Party, was at home.

Kashmir's most senior police official Gopal Sharma told Zee TV that the chief minister's house was "not attacked".

"The attack took place on a road that also has the chief minister's residence. It was not on his house. There was no danger on his house," Sharma said.

"They (the militants) could not have reached the chief minister's residence as there was a lot of security there," another police officer, Mohammed Amin Shah, told AFP.

Sharma said two or three militants launched a grenade attack on a BSF patrol near the chief minister's home and then fled to the nearby Ali Jaan shopping complex about 30 metres (100 feet) away.

Troops surrounded the complex and civilians were being evacuated.