- (AFP) -- Indian troops shot dead three suspected Islamic
militants in the troubled Himalayan region of Kashmir as Pakistani troops
fired mortars at Indian positions, defence sources said.
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- Indian troops cordoned off a large area in the Dessa
region of Doda district, about 240 kilometres (149 miles) north of Indian-Kashmir's
winter capital Jammu where the militants were killed, a defence spokesman
said.
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- In another development, Indian security forces Saturday
arrested five members of Kashmir's dominant rebel group for alleged involvement
in "various killings."
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- The five members, including Hizbul Mujahedin's platoon
commander Fiyaz Ahmed and company commander Altaf Mir, were arrested by
India's Border Security Force (BSF) and local police in Srinagar, a spokesman
for the BSF said.
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- "Besides confessing to the killing of security men
and civilians in Srinagar, they further revealed that this squad has been
indulging in contract killings under the instructions of Ibrahim Dar alias
Salim of Hizbul," he said.
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- Overnight, an Indian soldier and two civilians were injured
when Pakistani troops fired mortar shells across their disputed borders
in Kashmir, a defence ministry sources said Saturday.
-
- They said Pakistani troops "resorted to heavy mortar
shelling" at Bhawani, in the border district of Rajouri, 170 kilometres
(105 miles) west of Jammu late Friday.
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- "Indian troops retaliated suitably and inflicted
heavy losses on the enemy forces," the source said.
-
- Senior police officials here said Pakistani troops had
fired scores of mortar shells to provide distraction for Pakistan-trained
militants to go across the Rajouri district and cross into Indian territory.
-
- Police, however, said they had "foiled the infiltration
bid."
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- Indian and Pakistani troops exchange frequent fire along
their borders in Kashmir, which is divided between the two countries and
claimed in full by both.
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- More than 38,000 people have died in the Kashmiri separatist
campaign since 1989.
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