India blames Pakistan for killings

New Delhi - India yesterday told the US its patience with Pakistan's support for the separatist rebellion in Kashmir is wearing…

New Delhi - India yesterday told the US its patience with Pakistan's support for the separatist rebellion in Kashmir is wearing thin, as the overnight death toll in the suicide attack by Islamic militants on the disputed state's legislature building rose to 38, Rahul Bedi reports. Police said over 60 people had been admitted to hospital with serious injuries, many of them having lost their limbs.

"There has been understandable anger in the country at this wanton act of violence," the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, declared in a letter to President Bush. Laying the blame on Pakistan for Monday's attack, Mr Vajpayee said such attacks gravely threatened India's security.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (Mohammad's Army) group owned responsibility for detonating a stolen jeep packed with explosives at the entrance to the assembly.