|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SRINAGAR, India, April 10 (AFP) - At least 13 Kashmiri mujahideen and four Indian soldiers were among 20 people killed in renewed violence in the Indian zone of the disputed Kashmir region, Indian officials said Monday. Three soldiers and an equal number of mujahideen belonging to the powerful Harkat-ul-Ansar group were killed in a battle at a village some 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Srinagar, police officials said. Three civilians were injured after their homes caught fire during the fierce fighting. Four other mujahideen were shot dead early Monday by Indian troops near the same site, they said, adding that three other Muslims were also gunned down overnight in the southern Kashmiri town of Rajouri. An Indian security force member also died in the clash in Rajouri, which borders Pakistan. The officials said that three civilians and three mujahideen died in separate incidents of overnight violence in the Indian zone of Kashmir, claiming two of the slain mujahideen were Pakistanis. More than 25,000 people have died in Kashmir since 1989 in violence linked to the Muslims’ attempt to gain independence from India. India accuses Pakistan, which administers part of the divided state, of fermenting militancy in its territory. Islamabad denies the charge but extends moral and diplomatic support to the unrest.
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
