March 25, 2002	Monday	Muharram 10, 1423

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SRINAGAR, March 24: Four Indian soldiers were among six people killed in occupied Kashmir on Saturday night and Sunday.

Three Indian soldiers and one freedom fighter were killed in a gunbattle near Kalakote area of Rajouri district, southwest of Srinagar, on Friday night.

“Search operations have been launched in the surrounding areas as we suspect militants (Mujahideen) in the nearby woods,” a police official said.

Elsewhere in the held state, one Indian army officer and a police informer were killed and four other people wounded in separate incidents since Saturday evening, officials said.

Mujahideen, equipped with AK rifles and grenades, ambushed army personnel when they were heading for a search-out operation at the village of Putshai in the northern district of Kupwara.

Police said army captain Anil Updhayar died on the spot, while four other soldiers were injured in the surprise attack by the Mujahideen, who had taken positions behind pine trees and boulders.

Army reinforcements were sent to the scene to remove the dead and injured.

“They sealed the area, including the neighbouring forests and started searches to track down the militants,” the spokesman said.

PHONE BOOTHS: Public telephone booths in occupied Kashmir will soon have long-distance service restored, almost four months after being blocked by authorities, a telecommunications official was quoted saying on Sunday.

Authorities in early January disabled long-distance services — both international and domestic — from public booths and blocked Internet access amid rising tension between India and Pakistan.

New Delhi cited national security as a reason for the move, as it imposed a number of economic and diplomatic sanctions against Islamabad, which it accused of supporting Mujahideen who attacked the Indian parliament on December 13.

The move has been bitterly resented. Some said the move was counterproductive, as many freedom fighters are equipped with satellite telephones or other sophisticated technology.

Sunil Kumar, Kashmir’s chief of telecommunications, told the Greater Kashmir newspaper the ban on long-distance calling would be lifted soon.

“I have come to know that the problem will be solved within a few days. In fact there are indications which make me optimistic,” he said.

“I realise that the people are suffering, and I am waiting for the removal of the restrictions,” he said.—Agencies