February 18, 2002	Monday	Zilhaj 5, 1422

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SRINAGAR, Feb 17: Fourteen people were killed in Kashmir, police said on Sunday.

Police said guerillas on Saturday night shot dead eight Hindus and wounded six others during an attack on a remote village in the Himalayan region.

“During the intervening night, militants shot dead eight people, all Hindus in two adjacent houses at Narala village,” a police official said. He said the dead came from two families in the village, which lies in the state’s Rajouri district.

However, an alliance of Kashmiri mujahideen denied any involvement in the killings and blamed Indian security agencies for the attack.

“We condemn this attack and firmly believe that Indian security forces are behind this incident which is aimed at defaming our legitimate freedom struggle,” a spokesman for the 15-party United Jihad Council said.

Jaish-e-Mohammad also distanced itself from the attack.

“We never target civilians in our operations and our targets have always been the Indian forces,” Jaish spokesman Munib Ahmed Khan said. Jaish is not a member of the United Jihad Council.

In another incident, an Indian soldier and two Mujahideen were killed in a fierce gunbattle at Thanamandi area of Rajouri district, police said.

Elsewhere a soldier, a guerilla and a civilian were killed in separate shootouts in the troubled region.—Reuters