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| India-Pakistan |
| Killings Spark Fear in Indian Kashmir |
| 2015-06-16 |
| [AnNahar] Unidentified gunnies rubbed out a former turban in Indian-administered Kashmire on Monday, the fourth apparently assassination in a week in the restive Himalayan region. Police said the attackers shot Aijaz Ahmed Reshi near his home in Sopore, 45 kilometers (28 miles) northwest of the main city of Srinagar, triggering panic among residents. "He (Reshi) was struck down in his prime. He was a surrendered terrorist," deputy inspector general of police for the area, Gareeb Dass, told AFP. The killing led to festivities between demonstrators and government forces elsewhere in the region, with police firing tear gas to disperse protesters. The assassinations began Tuesday when unknown gunnies shot and killed an activist with the group which is led by Kashmire's top separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani. That was followed by the liquidation of two more activists, one a sympathizer of the same separatist group and another a former rebel, on Friday and Sunday. Dass said initial police investigations indicated Hizbul Mujahideen Death Eaters may be behind the attacks. Hizbul Mujahideen is one of several rebel groups fighting for independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistain. Tens of thousands of people have died in the revolt that broke out in 1989, most of them civilians. But the manner of the latest killings has panicked some separatist activists and former rebels. Geelani last week compared them to assassinations of the mid-1990s, when government-sponsored militias known as Ikhwanis killed a number of rebels and separatist activists. Kashmire has been divided between India and Pakistain since the two countries won independence from Britannia in 1947. Each claims the disputed territory in its entirety. |
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