Four persons were killed and 32 injured in a powerful hand grenade explosion inside a mosque compound at Dahab in south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Friday afternoon.

"Four persons were killed and 32 others wounded in an explosion inside the  local mosque compound in Tahab village of Pulwama district, 42 km from Srinagar, when militants lobbed a grenade inside the mosque compound where several hundred worshippers had gathered to offer the Friday prayers," S M Sahai, inspector general of police (Kashmir zone), told rediff.com in Srinagar.

The injured persons were shifted to the district hospital in Pulwama where attending doctors referred those with serious splinter injuries for specialised treatment to hospitals in Srinagar.

A pall of gloom descended on Tahab village where anxious locals gathered outside the mosque to enquire about their relatives.

Senior district officials of the civil and police administration have reached the village and relief and rescue is being supervised by them.