Land Mine Blast Kills 11 in Kashmir, Officials Say

SRINAGAR, India — Separatist militants set off a powerful land mine Saturday in the Indian-ruled part of Kashmir, killing 11 people, including nine soldiers, police said.

The jeep in which the soldiers were traveling was blown apart when it ran over the mine late Saturday in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state.

The victims included the driver and another civilian accompanying the soldiers who were headed for an operation against militants said to be hiding in nearby mountains.

“It was a huge explosion, it shook the whole area,” a police officer said.

In other violence, five policemen and two rebels died in a gun battle Saturday after the guerrillas entered a police camp in Sopore in northern Kashmir.

Guerrilla violence has increased in Kashmir in recent weeks; some experts said this could be aimed at derailing a new round of talks between India and Pakistan over the disputed Himalayan region.

The two sides are to meet this week to consider a popular demand to start bus services between the two parts of Kashmir they control. More than 45,000 people have died since the revolt against Indian rule began in the Muslim-majority area in 1989.