- SRINAGAR, India (Reuters)
- India said on Thursday it killed eight Islamic militants trying to enter
Indian Kashmir from Pakistani territory as the state battles a surge in
rebel violence just days before the end of a disputed election.
-
- India regards the rolling election, which ends next Tuesday,
as a test of Pakistan's pledge to stop separatists entering the disputed
territory, the cause of two wars between the now nuclear-armed neighbors
which brought them to the brink of another conflict in June.
-
- "This is the biggest single infiltration in recent
weeks," a defense official told Reuters.
-
- An army captain and a border guard were also killed in
the shootout near the Line of Control, a cease-fire line dividing Indian
and Pakistani forces, the official said.
-
- An official statement said the eight men were shot as
they tried to infiltrate into the Balakote area in the south of the state.
Another six alleged infiltrators were killed on Wednesday.
-
- India accuses the Pakistan army of helping militants
cross into Indian Kashmir to join a separatist revolt and says infiltration
has risen during the elections -- a charge Pakistan denies.
-
- The election has triggered anti-poll violence that has
killed more than 600 people since early August.
-
- In a separate gun battle on Thursday, police said they
shot dead two rebels responsible for killing eight people in an attack
on a bus on Tuesday. A policeman also died in the fierce all-night clash
in Hira Nagar, south of the city of Jammu.
-
- Police said the militants belonged to the outlawed Pakistan-based
group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Lashkar is one of two groups India blames for a
December attack on its parliament that triggered its latest stand-off with
Pakistan.
-
- A further three militants were killed in separate gun
battles across the state.
-
- THIRD LAND MINE ATTACK
-
- And six Indian soldiers were injured in a land mine explosion
in Kashmir Valley, the third major land mine attack in three days.
-
- "We are losing a lot of people," Kashmir police
chief A.K. Suri told reporters at a ceremony for five soldiers killed on
Wednesday when their vehicle ran over a land mine.
-
- "Infiltration has never stopped. For the last two
months it has been on the increase," he said.
-
- New Delhi and the United States say infiltration into
Indian Kashmir has risen during the elections, feeding the violence that
has killed more than 35,000 people since the revolt began in late 1989.
-
- Pakistan says the poll is a farce and says Kashmiris
should be allowed a referendum to decide on their own future.
-
- But it says infiltration, except by rogue elements, has
halted, and denies sponsoring the militants.
-
- The independent election commission says the election
turnout has been above 40 percent in all three rounds, a figure disputed
by moderate separatists and Pakistan.
-
- The number has been swollen by a strong turnout in mainly
Hindu areas in the Jammu region. But in the separatist bastion of the scenic
Kashmir Valley, many responded to a call by mainstream separatists to boycott
the poll.
-
- Separatist leader Umar Farooq said the election would
achieve nothing since it failed to address the core of the Kashmir dispute.
He accused India of holding the election just to impress the international
community.
-
- "We believe that elections or no elections, they
are not going to make a difference," Farooq, who is chief priest of
Kashmir's main mosque, told Reuters.
-
- "You cannot have elections when you have more than
450,000 troops present on the ground, when you have militancy around, when
you have killings going on," he said.
-
- India and Pakistan massed nearly a million men along
their border after the December attack on India's parliament.
-
- India controls just under half of Kashmir and Pakistan
about a third. China administers the rest.
-
- (Additional reporting by Ashok Pahalwan in JAMMU and
Sanjeev Miglani in SRINAGAR)
-
- Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited
without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable
for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
|
