Two killed in Kashmir attacks
Militants opened fire near the home of the top elected official in India-controlled Kashmir and detonated two explosions today, killing two paramilitary soldiers.
Three soldiers and four civilians, including photographers for The Associated Press and a local paper, were wounded in the blasts near the home of Jammu-Kashmir state’s Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed in Srinagar.
Nine soldiers and police were injured hours later in battles against the militants who hurled grenades and fired guns from within the Ali Jan shopping complex.
Soldiers and police in combat gear stormed the building after seven hours and fought their way to the fourth floor where they evacuated seven trapped civilians using a rope ladder.
“While we were inside, we were lying flat on our bellies and remembering God,” said Hina Rashid, 23, a computer trainer. “After the rescue team arrived, we slipped down a rope from the fourth floor.”
Soldiers then started laying explosives around the four-storey complex. Blowing up buildings to kill militants is a common tactic of Indian security forces in Kashmir.
Two relatively unknown Islamic militant groups claimed responsibility for the attacks, but India’s deputy prime minister, Lal Krishna Advani, accused a well-known Pakistan-based group and suggested that the Islamabad government supported the attack.
Pakistan said there was “no truth” in Advani’s allegations.
Pakistan routinely denies India’s contention that Islamabad arms and trains the militants who have fought 13 years to merge India’s portion of Kashmir with Pakistan or make it independent. More than 63,000 people have been killed in the fighting.
