Blast kills 5 in Indian Kashmir

A roadside bomb set off by suspected separatist rebels ripped through a bus in a remote village in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing at least five people and wounding eight others, police said Wednesday. K. Rajendra, a top state police officer, said the homemade bomb exploded Tuesday near Marah, a mountainous village 105 miles (170 kilometers) southwest of Srinagar, the main city in Indian Kashmir. The bus was apparently targeted because some village defense committee members were traveling on it, he said. The committee is an armed militia set up by the state government to help in counterinsurgency operations.