January 12, 2002	Saturday	Shawwal 27, 1422

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SRINAGAR, Jan 11: Sixteen people, mainly guerillas, were killed on Friday in fresh violence in Jammu and Kashmir which is at the heart of a military standoff between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, police said.

Also on Friday, unidentified guerillas hurled a grenade at an army vehicle in the heart of Srinagar, but missed their target and caused no damage or injuries, a police statement said.

“Terrorists lobbed a grenade towards a security force vehicle... which missed the target and exploded on the road without causing any damage,” the statement said.

Six Mujahideen were killed in a fierce gunbattle in the Anantnag district south of Srinagar, police said.

In another shootout, an Indian soldier, a civilian and two militants were killed in the Kapran area, police said. Elsewhere four militants, an Indian paramilitary officer and a civilian, were killed in separate shootouts in the valley, police said.

ID CARDS: Paramilitary border guards in occupied Kashmir on Friday stopped police and army vehicles to check the identity cards of the uniformed men on board, witnesses said.

The exercise, the first of its kind in recent years, came ahead of India’s Republic Day on Jan 26, for which Indian authorities are taking extra security measures to prevent attacks.

The national holiday is commemorated as “black day” by Kashmiri Mujahideen.—AFP / Reuters