Five people were killed and at least 50 wounded yesterday, including women and children, when a grenade was hurled at worshippers in a crowded mosque in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir, police said.

"Two men and three women have died and at least 50 were wounded, some seriously," police officer Imtiaz Ahmed said in Srinagar, capital of Indian Kashmir, where an Islamic revolt has raged against New Delhi's rule since 1989.

The attack took place in southern Pulwama district's Tahab village, some 40km south of Srinagar.

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"The mosque and its surroundings were full of worshippers when the grenade was hurled,"Ahmed said.

Police said it was not immediately known who carried out the attack. But the region has been rocked by a series of grenade attacks by separatist militants in recent months.

The attack was the worst since July, when suspected militants killed eight tourists and wounded 40 people, most of them tourists, in Srinagar.

A witness, Abdul Jabbar, told AFP the grenade exploded inside the mosque, sparking "chaos and panic" among the worshippers, who had gathered for Friday prayers and a sermon by leading south Kashmir cleric Abdul Rashid Dawoodi.

Another witness, Ashiq Hussain, said the blast occurred when Dawoodi and his followers were entering the mosque.

"The grenade exploded right at the main gate of the mosque, sending splinters in all the directions," Hussain said, adding that Dawoodi was among the wounded.

People rushed out of their houses to help the victims, putting them into their cars and racing them to hospital.

"At least 15 seriously wounded people have been sent to Srinagar," police officerAhmed said.

In Srinagar, large numbers of volunteers came to the main hospital to donate blood as wailing relatives beat their chests and pulled their hair in traditional displays of bereave-

ment.

"This is a clear act of terrorism. We condemn it. Whoever has done this can never be a friend of Kashmiris," said leading Kashmiri political separatist Javed Mir.

In a second grenade attack in Srinagar, four policemen and a Muslim woman were wounded, police said.

Worshippers have rarely been attacked in Kashmir, unlike in Pakistan, where Sunni and Shia militants target those from rival sects.

However, in September, 31 people were killed in a blast outside a mosque in Malegaon, in western India.

More than 44,000 people have died in insurgency-related violence in Kashmir, according to Indian records. Separatists say the toll is more than double that figure.

Kashmir is divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.

The two have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which they claim in full.

New Delhi accuses Islamabad of arming and funding militants, a charge denied by Pakistan.

Most of the militants want Kashmir to become part of Pakistan. Few want it to become independent, although the revolt began as a drive forindependence.

The attack came after an official report last week said insurgency-related killings in Indian Kashmir had fallen nearly 30 percent.