SRINAGAR, India — A crude landmine exploded in a busy vegetable market in the heart of Indian-ruled Kashmir on Monday, killing 15 people and wounding about 25, police said.
Indian political analysts said the blast was part of a Pakistani campaign to raise the international pitch on its dispute over Kashmir.
One linked the incident to a hijack crisis which ended last Friday when India released three jailed Kashmir militants in exchange for the freedom of 154 hostages aboard an aircraft.
Indian officials said the blast had targeted two vehicles carrying security men who had come to shop for vegetables in Srinagar, summer capital of India's state of Jammu and Kashmir which has been racked by a separatist rebellion for 10 years.
"Preliminary investigations have revealed that the explosive device was planted in a handcart and probably detonated through a timer-device," police said in statement on the blast.
Two security men were among those killed, most of whom were vegetable sellers. Witnesses said bodies and blood-soaked vegetables were scattered around the market.
"It was a loud explosion and next I heard cries, the dead and wounded were all around. This is the most horrible moment of my life," said Joginder Singh, an Indian paramilitary soldier.
The vegetable sellers in Batmaloo suburb were catering to nearly 400 customers when the mine exploded around 10:00 a.m. (0430 GMT). Police had earlier said the explosion occurred at 10:30 a.m.
The explosion came three days after the week-long hijack crisis, which had its roots in the Kashmiri conflict. India blamed Pakistan for the incident — a charge Islamabad denies.