30 injured in grenade blast in Kashmir

Two hours after Kalam arrived in Kashmir on a one-day visit, rebels hurled a grenade at a security patrol in the busy commercial heart of Anantag, south of the main city, Srinagar, wounding 30 people, police said.

Most of the injured in the attack were civilians, police said. Two victims were in critical condition.

"The blast caused chaos in the area, we've sealed it off," a police official told AFP by telephone from Anantag, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Srinagar.

Earlier, two militants were killed in northern Baramulla district in a pre-dawn firefight with security forces.

Tight security surrounded Kalam's visit to Kashmir where he flew to address troops in Kargil, high in the Himalayas, that was the scene of a bloody two-month confrontation between Indian troops and Pakistani-backed invaders in 1999.