15 persons were wounded Tuesday evening in a militant grenade attack, at the north Kashmir Baltel base camp, of the two month long pilgrimage to the Himalayan cave Shrine of Amarnath.

Police here said militants, carried out a grenade explosion in the outer frisking point area of the Baltel base camp, 100 kms from here late this evening.

"Nine Tibetan vendors, two pilgrims and four locals were injured in the explosion, three of them critically that occurred in the outer frisking area of Baltel base camp late this evening. Three of the seriously wounded persons have been to referred to Soura Medical Institute for treatment," a senior police officer here said.

He said, "Security is being further beefed up at and around the camp where hundreds of pilgrims are camping for their onward trek to the cave Shrine on Wednesday morning."

Tuesday's is the first militant attack on the two month long pilgrimage which started in Srinagar [Images] on June 30.

35 pilgrims were killed and over 50 others wounded in militant attack on the south Kashmir Pahalgam pilgrim base camp in August 2000.

Tuesday night's explosion triggered heavy panic at the Baltel base camp, which is situated on the foothills of the Zojila pass that connects the Ladakh region of the state with the valley.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.