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15 Muslim Guerrillas Killed in Kashmir
In a fierce gun battle Sunday night, Indian soldiers killed 15 Muslim guerrillas as they sought to cross into Indian-held Kashmir, officials said Monday. Security officials said the militants were trying to cross into the Kashmir Valley when they were spotted by Indian soldiers guarding a heavily forested area along the Line of Control, the cease-fire line that separates Indian and Pakistani forces in Kashmir. The death toll could not be independently verified. An army spokesman, Lt. Col. Mukhtar Singh, told Reuters that Sunday nightâs clash was "one of the major infiltration bids in recent months by Pakistan-backed terrorists." The gun battle north of Srinagar, Kashmirâs summer capital, lasted 18 hours and soldiers were still searching for militants in the area on Monday, Singh said. Itâs infiltration season, have to get across the passes before first snow. In separate incidents, Pakistani mortar rounds killed an Indian soldier and wounded two others along the disputed frontier, while in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, officials said a 33-year-old man had been killed and five others -- including three women -- had been wounded by Indian shelling, according to news agency reports. Kashmir, where the shells fall like leaves from the trees. Posted by: Steve 2003-09-29 |
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