Second Bombing in India in 2 Days Kills 14, Injures 33

A second powerful bomb blast in India in as many days killed 14 people and wounded 33 on a bus Wednesday as the violence-torn state of Jammu and Kashmir prepared to vote despite threats from Muslim separatists.

Police said no one had claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack in the northwestern state of Rajasthan.

Two Kashmiri groups said they planted a car bomb Tuesday that killed at least 16 people and wounded 38 in New Delhi.

Militant groups have called for a boycott and threatened to kill any official who takes part in the vote starting today in Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state in mainly Hindu India.

The polls are the first since a separatist revolt, which police say has claimed 20,000 lives, broke out in 1990.

Wednesday’s blast ripped the roof off the bus as it was traveling from India’s premier tourist destination, the Taj Mahal, through the desert state of Rajasthan, police said.

Rajasthan borders the northern state of Punjab, where a decade-old Sikh separatist revolt was largely crushed in recent years. A Sikh militant group also claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s bombing.

Home Minister Murli Manohar Joshi late Wednesday accused India’s archfoe, Pakistan, of carrying out the New Delhi attack.

India often blames Pakistani intelligence agents for masterminding violence in India. It also accuses Pakistan of funding the Kashmiri rebels. Pakistan denies the charges.

The governor of Jammu and Kashmir said Wednesday that his security forces will ensure fair elections in the state, but separatist leaders said the government was using threats to bring Kashmiris to polling stations today and May 30.