Twenty-one people were wounded Monday when militants lobbed a grenade in an unsuccessful attempt to target security personnel in Pulwama District of south Indian-administered Kashmir.

"Twenty-one persons were injured when militants lobbed a grenade in an abortive attempt to target security personnel in Pulwama District," the Press Trust of India quoted local official sources as said.

Militants hurled the grenade towards the security personnel patrolling the busy Shopian township, 52 km from Srinagar, around 3:55 PM. But it missed the intended target and exploded on a main road injuring 21 pedestrians, the sources said.

Five of the injured persons were referred to Srinagar for specialized treatment and their condition was stated to be serious, they said.

The whole area has been cordoned off and a hunt has been launched to nab the militants involved in the incident.

No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the blast.

Since 1989, about a dozen rebel groups have been battling Indian rule in the Muslim-majority region. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the insurgency since then.

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2004)