Kashmir blast kills 9, wounds 25

SPECIAL REPORT

• Timeline: Kashmir history

• In-depth: Where conflict rules

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NEW DELHI, India -- An improvised explosive device planted in a car exploded as a private bus carrying Indian soldiers drove past, killing nine soldiers and wounding another 25 others in Kashmir, police say.

Friday's attack occurred at Nishat Bagh near the summer capital of Srinagar, where the wounded taken to hospital for treatment.

A radical militant group known as Hizbul Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the blast.

Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen is one of more than a dozen Islamic rebels groups that have been fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with neighboring Pakistan.

More than 66,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the 15 year conflict.

Ever since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, India and Pakistan have been bitter rivals.

During five decades they have fought three wars, two of them over the disputed region of Kashmir, which is divided by the "Line of Control."

But recently tensions have abated, and the leaders of India and Pakistan have embarked on a series of measures to resolve a spate of security issues, including the hotly disputed Kashmir.

The neighbors have already enforced a total cease-fire between forces lined up on each side of the border and have resumed air, rail and bus links.