Three people were killed and 27 wounded when suspected Kashmiri nationalists fighters set off a landmine in a market in south Kashmir on Tuesday as an Indian army patrol was passing by, police said. (Read photo caption below)

Seven Indian soldiers were wounded in the blast at the market in Aawntipora town on Kashmir's main highway south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, a police official said.

The three dead were civilians, he said. No militant group claimed responsibility.

"The explosion in Aawntipora's main market damaged two army vehicles. Three civilians died in the explosion and 20 were injured," the police official told Reuters.

About a dozen nationalist fighters groups are fighting India's rule in the Muslim-majority region where authorities say about 33,000 people have been killed in 12 years of an uprising for self-determination. Nationalists put the death toll at closer to 80,000.

At least another nine people were killed and 20 wounded in other violence in the disputed Himalayan region late on Monday and on Tuesday.

Kashmir has been at the centre of a tense military confrontation between India and Pakistan since a December attack on India's parliament which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based nationalist groups.

                                               SOURCE: SRINAGAR, Indian-Ruled Kashmir (News Agencies)

PHOTO CAPTION:

Indian policemen assess the damage to a shop after an explosion at Aawntipora, a town south of Srinagar, on April 16 killed three and injured 27 other people. REUTERS/String