At least two dozen wounded in Kashmir blast

Policemen stand guard near the spot of a bomb blast in Srinagar March 19, 2008. At least two dozen people were wounded on Wednesday when suspected separatist rebels set off a powerful bomb in the heart of Kashmir's main city, police said.

SRINAGAR (Reuters) - At least two dozen people were wounded on Wednesday when suspected separatist rebels set off a powerful bomb in the heart of Kashmir's main city, police said.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the explosion, the first in past five months, which took place near Jehangir Chowk, a busy area in Srinagar.

"Nearly 25 people have been treated in the hospital. One among the injured is serious," Altaf Ahmad, a doctor in a Srinagar hospital, said.

Witnesses said the explosion shook the area and damaged several vehicles and window panes of nearby buildings.

Earlier on Wednesday soldiers shot dead four separatist militants in a fierce gunbattle in the Doda area of south Kashmir, police said.

Rebel violence has fallen across Kashmir after India and Pakistan, who claim the region in full but rule in parts, started a slow-moving peace process in 2004.

But people are still killed in daily shootouts and occasional bomb attacks.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the region since a revolt against Indian rule broke out in 1989.