Srinagar - Rescuers recovered the bodies of 11 people in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday, a day after multiple avalanches hit their vehicles in the Himalayan region, officials said.

Separately, four police were killed on Saturday when rebels fighting against Indian rule in disputed Kashmir detonated a bomb on a street they were patrolling, police said.

Thirteen people were swept away by three near-simultaneous avalanches at three places in a stretch of about 10km on a mountainous road in Kupawara district on Friday.

Police officer Shamsher Hussain said about 200 police, army and civilian rescuers recovered the bodies of 11 people.

Two people were rescued alive and were in stable condition at a hospital, he said.

Massive bomb

Avalanches and landslides are common in Kashmir and have caused heavy death tolls for the Indian and Pakistani armies camped near the mountainous and forested highly militarised Line of Control that divides Kashmir between the nuclear-armed rivals.

At least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in three avalanches last year and in 2012 a massive avalanche in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir killed 140 people, including 129 Pakistani soldiers.

Also Saturday, at least four police officers were killed after rebels detonated a massive bomb on a street the police were patrolling in the northwestern town of Sopore, police said.

Streets were deserted and shops and businesses closed for a strike when the massive blast struck. The town, famous for apple orchards, is observing a shutdown on the 25th anniversary of a massacre in which government forces killed at least 47 people after a paramilitary soldier died in a rebel attack.