Kashmiri fighters hurled a grenade at an election rally in Indian Kashmir yesterday, killing at least nine people and wounding 50, including two state ministers, police said. The attack in Uri near the ceasefire line dividing the disputed Himalayan region between India and Pakistan was the first poll-related violence in the state ahead of Indian elections later this month. The blast sent people fleeing in panic. Police said security forces fired into the air to scare away the fighters. Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed denounced the attackers. "These are enemies of peace, but their attempts to derail the poll process would never succeed as the people are determined in their quest for order and restore stability in the state," he said. Police said 16 others, including the chief commander of a rebel group, were killed and 16 soldiers wounded in separate clashes across the scenic state. The election rally blast occurred just as state Finance Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beigh and Tourism Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir were entering a school yard accompanied by several thousand cheering supporters, police said. A lesser known Kashmiri group, the Save Kashmir Movement, claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to a local news agency. The rally in Uri was organised by Jammu and Kashmir state's ruling People's Democratic Party. Finance Minister Beigh was injured in the leg while Tourism Minister "Mir was bleeding profusely but he was still talking," a police officer said. However, his bodyguard was killed in the attack, he said. People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti was also at the rally but was unhurt, police said. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Indian police and civilians carry an injured man after an attack during an election campaign rally in Uri, April 8, 2004. (Reuters)