NEW DELHI - A new government in the Indian-governed portion of Kashmir was sworn in yesterday, signaling the start of what many hope could be a more peaceful era in the troubled state.

However, the day was marred by a series of attacks by militants, including one on the new chief minister's house.

Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority state, has been the site of a 13-year, Pakistan-backed insurgency against Indian rule in the state. But the defeat last month of the state's governing party, a family dynasty that had shaped its politics for more than 50 years, is seen as a window through which a negotiated end to the conflict could enter.

The new government, a coalition whose two largest parties are the Indian National Congress and the People's Democratic Party, has vowed to take steps immediately to improve human rights. It has pledged to get the central government to talk without conditions not only to the newly elected state government, but also to "other segments of public opinion," a politically safe reference to separatists and militants.

But at 10:15 a.m., just hours before he was to be sworn in as chief minister, two rifle grenades were thrown at the home of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, whose People's Democratic Party is seen as taking a softer line toward separatists than the governing National Conference.

Sayeed's daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, the party's vice president and its most popular figure, also lives in the home. One security guard was injured in the attack.

The attack was followed by several more in Srinagar, the state's summer capital. In one, suspected Islamic militants killed a local leader of the ruling Congress Party, Muhammad Sikander Khan, and his two guards. Together, the attacks seemed to signal that militants opposed to any kind of settlement may work to destabilize the new government.

Such incidents may also have implications for the new officials. Among the reasons for the National Conference's estrangement from its constituents was the intensive security that surrounded officials to thwart attacks. In contrast, Mufti's campaign was marked by a willingness to shrug off such concerns in order to reach people directly.

Still, the swearing-in of Sayeed, 66, a former government minister, was a milestone. The formation of a new government had been held up for weeks by a dispute between the main parties over who would be chief minister.

Also yesterday, Indian soldiers killed 12 suspected Islamic guerrillas trying to sneak across the border from Pakistan-controlled territory.