The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Srinagar

At least nine people including women and children were killed in fresh outbreaks of violence in Indian Kashmir on Thursday, officials said.

A grenade attack by suspected Islamic militants in Indian Kashmir's main city, Srinagar, left five dead-among them a woman and a child-and nine other wounded, police said.

In a separate attack, militants executed a former rebel and three of his family members, including his wife and daughter, in an apparent revenge killing, officials said.

A police spokesman said the murdered man, Ghulam Hussain, was an ex-member of the disputed region's main militant group, the pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahedin, who surrendered in 2004 -- earning himself a place on a militant hit-list.

He was murdered in Doda district, about 170 kilometres (105 miles) south of Srinagar. Also among the dead was Hussain's four-year-old nephew, police said.

The insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir, which began in 1989, has left more than 43,000 people dead.