- SRINAGAR, India (Reuters)
- Twelve people, including nine rebels, have been killed in fresh clashes
between Muslim militants and Indian security forces in disputed Kashmir,
police said on Tuesday.
-
- Violence in the Himalayan region, which is at the heart
of an eight-month military standoff between India and Pakistan, has increased
since the Indian government announced it would hold state assembly elections
in Kashmir in September and October.
-
- Many Kashmiris fear violence will escalate as separatists
have called for a boycott of the election and one rebel group, the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen,
has said it would kill candidates, voters and anyone else supporting the
poll.
-
- One policeman was killed and one wounded on Tuesday when
gunmen attacked a police patrol in the heart of Srinagar, the summer capital
of Jammu and Kashmir state, police said.
-
- In another incident, two militants and a civilian were
killed in a clash between rebels and security forces in Kupwara district
northwest of Srinagar, police said.
-
- A defense official said two rebels were killed in the
border district of Rajouri on Monday when they were trying to sneak across
a military cease-fire line into disputed Kashmir from Pakistan.
-
- Five militants and a policeman were killed in other clashes
in the region.
-
- Nearly 240 people, most of them rebels, have been killed
since August 2 when the central government announced dates for the elections
in Kashmir, according to government figures.
-
- India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the Muslim
militants fighting its rule in India's only Muslim-majority state.
-
- Pakistan denies the charge, but says it provides moral
and diplomatic support to what it calls the legitimate Kashmiri struggle
for self-determination. India controls just under half of Kashmir, Pakistan
about a third and China the rest.
-
- Officials say more than 35,000 people have been killed
since the rebellion broke out at the end of 1989. Separatists say more
than 80,000 have died since then.
-
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