December 16, 2001	Sunday	Ramazan 30, 1422

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SRINAGAR, Dec 15: Eighteen people were killed in gunbattles and other violence on Saturday in Kashmir, police said.

Police said security forces moved into the Krankishavan locality in Sopore to arrest Mujahideen after receiving information on their presence.

“The security forces ringed a hideout where the activists were present and asked them to surrender,” a police spokesman said.

“The militants ignored the plea and instead opened fire,” he said, adding that during the ensuing encounter four mujahideen and an Indian soldier were killed.

A woman and a young girl were also killed when they strayed into the crossfire, police said. Meanwhile, in the Nowshera sector unidentified gunmen shot dead a Hindu couple.

Police said mujahideen also killed two people in the Budgam district. At Tral township mujahideen ambushed a vehicle killing an officer, police said.

The police returned the fire, sparking an encounter that left two civilians dead and more than a dozen others injured. In a similar shoot-out at Shopian town, 50 kms south of Srinagar, a counter-insurgency policeman and a civilian were killed.

Separately, two mujahideen were killed in Poonch.—AFP