The All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, an alliance of some two dozen separatist groups, split last September between moderate and hardliners in a row over holding talks with New Delhi to end a deadly insurgency against Indian rule.

Leading separatists formed the Itehadi (Unification) Force in a bid to unite the opposing wings but said they were disbanding after attempts led nowhere.

"We tried our best in our efforts but we failed ... to forge unity among the warring Hurriyat groups," sai senior separatist Mohammed Yasin Malik in the Kashmir summer capital Srinagar, tears in his eyes. "We are dissolving the Itehadi Force."

The hardliners, supported by separatist guerrillas, oppose the talks launched last January by the moderates with New Delhi to bring peace to the Himalayan region where the revolt has left tens of thousands dead.

Malik's pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and other parties headed by veteran separatist leaders such as Shabir Shah, Sheikh Aziz, Mian Qayoom and Maulana Showket Ahmed set up the Itehadi Force.

"I and my colleagues apologize to the unfortunate people of Kashmir who have given huge sacrifices for freedom," Malik said.

He singled out hardliner Syed Ali Geelani, who wants Indian Kashmir to join Pakistan, as a "big impediment" to the unity efforts.

Geelani was declared head of the breakaway hardline Hurriyat last September. "I had a lot of expectations from Geelani but I am disappointed with his approach," said Malik. He was one of a dozen Kashmiris who launched an armed struggle against Indian rule in 1988 but who opted in the 1990s to pursue his goals through political means.

"He (Geelani) is on a suicide path," said Malik, adding by "not uniting we are helping the imperial power," a reference to India.

"It is a struggle for freedom. We must unite. If we don't, it may lead to a civil war," Malik warned, flanked by other Itehadi Force leaders.

There was no immediate comment available from Geelani.