(Recasts with new violence)

SRINAGAR, India, June 1 (Reuters) - Three policemen and eight suspected separatist militants were killed in explosions and gun battles across Kashmir, police said on Friday, as violence rose with the onset of summer in the troubled region.

Two policemen were killed and six wounded after a grenade attack on a federal police camp in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state.

Hours earlier, suspected militants set off a bomb in the heart of Srinagar, wounding at least 16 soldiers in an army bus. Kashmir's frontline rebel group, Hizbul Mujahideen, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Elsewhere, eight militants and a policeman were killed and six soldiers wounded in separate clashes between militants and troops across the revolt-torn region in the last 24 hours, police said.

Violence has flared up in Kashmir in recent weeks after the end of winter, as it allows easier movement of militants across the Himalayan region and also lets them trek through the mountain passes into Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani side, officials say.

However, overall violence levels remain low compared to previous years, credited to a peace process between India and Pakistan, each of which claims the region in full but rules it in parts.

Indian officials say more than 42,000 people have been killed in Kashmir in the revolt against New Delhi's rule which erupted in 1989. Human rights groups put the toll at about 60,000 dead or missing.

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