Srinagar, India - Three people were killed and at least seven injured in a grenade attack by suspected Islamic militants at a bus stand in the heart of the capital of the northern Indian sate Jammu and Kashmir Srinagar on Thursday, police said.

Police said there could be more people injured but were waiting for further details.

Militants stepped up their activities in Jammu and Kashmir recently, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 40 in various incidents since Sunday.

A former member of the militant Hizbul Mujahideen and three family members were killed in India's northern Jammu and Kashmir state in what appeared to be an act of reprisal, IANS news agency reported.

Suspected militants entered the house of Ghulam Hassan in the Marmat area of Doda district, about 170 kilometres north of the state's largest city Jammu Wednesday and fired indiscriminately.

They killed Hassan, his daughter Asiya and two others, and injured his wife Azima and a guest, police said. The attack looked like an act of reprisal by the guerrillas whose ranks Hassan deserted earlier this year, they added.

Intelligence sources said more attacks are expected in the run-up to state assembly elections scheduled for November.

More than 40,000 people were killed in secessionist violence in India-administered Kashmir since the early 1990s.

The Hizbul Mujahideen is an Islamic militant group is based in neighbouring Pakistan, according to Indian intelligence agencies.

Nuclear-capable neighbours India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence from British rule in 1947. Two of these were over Kashmir. The two countries are currently engaged in dialogue to resolve disputes including the row over Kashmir. (dpa)