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| Sunday, 19 October 2003 |
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Indian troops kill two rebels, end 24-hour stand-off in Kashmir KASHMIR, Sunday (AFP) Indian troops in restive Kashmir Saturday shot dead two Islamic rebels holed up in a shopping complex near the home of Indian Kashmir leader Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, ending a 24-hour stand-off. "The operation has ended and we have killed both militants," said Mohammed Amin Shah, Kashmir's deputy inspector general of police. "It was a joint operation by the police and the BSF (Border Security Force). We have recovered both bodies," he said, while jubilant troops shouted pro-India slogans and posed for photographs in front of the badly mutilated bodies of the militants. Blood and smashed window panes littered the floor and lawn outside the four-storey Ali Jan shopping complex where the two rebels had taken refuge after attacking a BSF patrol near Sayeed's official residence in the summer capital Srinagar on Friday morning. The attack left two BSF soldiers dead and an officer injured. Intermittent exchanges of gunfire between the rebels and security personnel since Friday morning injured 17 more security men, including three officers, a police spokesman said. Two photojournalists were also injured in the Friday attack. Kashmir's police chief Gopal Sharma told AFP at the scene Saturday, "The building has been cleared of militants and completely secured." "It was one of the cleanest anti-militant operations in the state." Sharma said the 25 civilians who had been trapped inside the complex had been evacuated safely. "The operation took some time as we wanted to ensure the safety of the civilians and ensure there was no damage to the building," he said. The chief minister was in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state at the time of the attack. He returned to Srinagar Friday evening and instructed security to ensure minimum collateral damage as they flushed out the rebels from the shopping complex, official sources told AFP. Sayeed's wife, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti, who is president of Indian Kashmir's ruling People's Democratic Party, and her two daughters were at home when the attack took place. Police denied the attack was aimed at Sayeed's residence, just 30 metres (yards) away from the shopping complex. But militant outfits al Mansorain, Farzandan-e-Millat and al Nasereen, which all claimed responsibility for the attack, said it was aimed at the chief minister's house. The stand-off came despite a recent step-up of military counter-insurgency operations across Kashmir, a scenic Himalayan region that is in the throes of 14 years of anti-Indian violence. More than 39,500 people have died in the unrest, according to official figures. Separatists put the toll at between 80,000 and 100,000.. |
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