Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma escaped a bid on his life, the second in less than a week, on Monday in Kapran in south Kashmir.

Sharma and two of his cabinet colleagues -- Power Minister Mohammad Sharief  Niaz and Public Works Minister G A Mir -- escaped unhurt when a bomb planted under a stage they were occupying exploded.

Five persons were killed in the attack and 40 injured.

Congress party's chief spokesman in the Valley, Abdul Gani Vakil, also was on the stage when the blast took place, suffered minor injuries.

The injured -- including Anantnag District Magistrate Asghar Samoon; Chief Engineer, Roads and Buildings, Mohammad Youssuf Rather; the additional superintendent of police; and a chief engineer were

shifted to Anantnag town for treatment. Mohammad Youssuf Rather later succumbed to his injuries.

Samoon was later air-lifted to the Soura Medical Institute for specialised treatment.

While Vakil said it was a bomb that "bomb exploded under the stage," Deputy Inspector General of Police, South Kashmir, Ravinder Kotwal said it was a hand grenade.

Two local  reporters were also injured in the explosion.

The deputy chief minister was in the village to inaugurate a medical camp. "The ministers had finished their speeches and the deputy CM was busy distributing cheques when suddenly there was a big bang which shook the stage. I looked around and saw people on one end of the stage lying in a pool of blood. I saw blood oozing from my foot. We were escorted out later," Vakil told this correspondent.