January 15, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 30, 1422

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SRINAGAR, Jan 14: Confusion still shrouds the killing of two Dutch nationals in occupied Kashmir, with local media saying the two were tourists, and not Mujahideen, as claimed by India’s Border Security Force (BSF).

BSF personnel shot dead the two Dutch nationals in Srinagar on Sunday, saying they had attacked one of their patrols with knives.

But Monday’s local newspapers ran a different version of events.

“The two took umbrage at the molestation of a local woman by the patrolling party and in the ensuing scuffle were brutally killed by the BSF,” occupied kashmir’s largest circulation English daily, Greater Kashmir, quoted unidentified sources as saying.

A spokesman for the Dutch embassy in New Delhi confirmed the men had Dutch passports, but said no other details about them or the nature of their visit were immediately known.

“We are now retrieving the bodies to transport them to The Netherlands,” the spokesman said.

In Srinagar, another English daily, Kashmir Images, said the two were killed after an argument with BSF personnel turned into a scuffle.

Quoting witnesses, the paper said the patrol had tried to molest one of the foreigners.

“The BSF troops opened fire on tourists killing both on the spot,” it added.—AFP