At least 29 people were killed and more than 40 injured Monday after Islamic suicide bombers blew up a car outside the state legislature in Kashmir, in the worst act of terrorism since last month's attacks on the United States.
A Pakistan-based Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the bomber drove to the assembly building in a car filled with explosives.
The blast damaged at least 150 buildings or street stalls around the tightly guarded legislature, including a six-story hotel.
Gun fire was heard for four hours after the attack inside the building, after two other militants stormed inside and began shooting.
Police said a total of 29 people died either from injuries suffered in the bombing or from the firefight. Three of the dead were militants, 19 were civilians and employees of the legislature, while seven were security personnel and police.
Violence has surged in Indian-ruled Kashmir in the past four days, with more than 90 people killed in clashes linked to Islamic militants who are fighting for an end to Indian rule in the Muslim-majority state.
Last week the Indian authorities claimed that Islamic militants were leaving Kashmir and Pakistan for Afghanistan where the ruling Taliban had called for a jihad (holy war) against the United States if it launches retaliatory strikes for the September 11 attacks.
Indian officials said this meant there would be less militant activity in Kashmir, but the latest attack contradicted their claim.
"Many people bled to death as no one dared to rush to the spot," said Abdul Rashid, a local shopkeeper.
The explosion took place at about 2:00 pm (0800 GMT) in the heart of Indian Kashmir's summer capital, after Kashmir's Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and several of his cabinet ministers had left, official sources said.
The speaker of the Kashmir assembly, Abdul Ahad Vakil, and a few legislators were inside the building, but security forces brought them out of the building safely, the sources added.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee described the attack as a "last-ditch attempt" by militants cornered by a global tide against them.
"The killing of a large number of people inside and outside the assembly premises indicates that it was a pre-planned conspiracy," Vajpayee told reporters.
India's junior foreign minister Omar Abdullah, the son of the Kashmiri chief minister, said the bombing was "an attack on humanity".
"The world should condemn the incident which is also an act of international terrorism aimed at throttling the democratic institution of the state," he added.
A Pakistan-based Islamic militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, told a local news service it was responsible for the attack, which it said was carried out by suicide bomber Wajahat Hussain, a Pakistani national.
More than 35,000 people have been killed in Indian-ruled Kashmir since the start of a Muslim separatist insurgency in 1989.
In the past New Delhi has accused Pakistan of sending in hundreds of militants -- mostly Afghan and Pakistani nationals -- to fight Indian security forces in Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charge.
Jaish-e-Mohammed recently made a threat against Indian airports, all of which have been on high alert since Sunday, officials said.
A spokesman for the Airport Authority of India said check-in security had been boosted and all those not holding tickets have been banned from entering the airports.
In eastern India, state officials said they had received intelligence reports that several members of Jaish-e-Mohammed had entered Calcutta to unleash suicide attacks on the international airport there -- SRINAGAR, India (AFP)
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