|
|
|
  |
| Sunday, 6 March 2005 |
 |
|
 |
World |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Indian troops kill 10 Kashmir militants SRINAGAR, India, Saturday, Indian troops shot dead 10 Islamic militants overnight in separate gun battles in the restive Himalayan region of Indian-Kashmir, an army spokesman said. Four militants were shot dead in Botnar village near the southern town of Tral, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Srinagar, summer capital of Indian-Kashmir, the spokesman said. "The four were sighted inside a mountain cave in the snow-bound Botnar village," he said adding a gun battle erupted as Indian troops closed in. "We killed all the four," he said. Further south, in the neighbouring Anantnag district Indian troops, backed by police and paramilitary soldiers, shot dead three more rebels in another encounter, the spokesman said. In a third operation, three rebels were killed near the highway town of Banihal, 110 kilometers (68 miles) south of Srinagar, an army source said. Indian troops resumed their counter-insurgency operations this week after winding up relief and rescue work in three districts of Kashmir, devastated by avalanches triggered by record levels of snowfall. Some 292 people have lost their lives in snow slides, house collapses and sub-zero temperatures. Indian troops have been battling a 15-year-old Islamic insurgency in Kashmir that has so far left tens of thousands dead. The bloodshed has continued despite a nascent peace process between India and Pakistan, who both administer the scenic Himalayan region in part but claim it in full. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Islamic insurgents battling New Delhi's rule in its zone of divided Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charges, although it says it extends moral,
political and diplomatic support to a "freedom struggle in Kashmir." |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
