A grenade explosion in a busy market in Indian-controlled Kashmir wounds 9

SRINAGAR, India — An assailant threw a grenade at a marketplace bustling with shoppers in the main city of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sunday, wounding at least nine people, police said.

The attack comes a day after a suspected militant was killed in a daylong gunbattle in Srinagar, a rare occurrence in the city where security is tight.

Police said an unidentified attacker hurled a grenade from a flyover bridge, apparently targeting a stationed paramilitary vehicle, in the main business center of Srinagar, where Sunday's flea market is visited by thousands of people.

The grenade exploded in the midst of shoppers and vendors, wounding at least nine, police said. All were taken to a hospital and reinforcements of police and paramilitary soldiers launched a search for the attacker.

In the past, Indian authorities have blamed rebels fighting against Indian rule in the disputed region for similar grenade attacks. Rebels have in turn accused government agents of carrying out the attacks to defame their movement.

''There can be no justification for targeting innocent civilians,'' Kashmir's Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wrote on the social media platform X. ''The security apparatus must do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks at the earliest so that people can go about their lives without any fear.''

India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory since they gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.