December 12, 2002	Thursday	Shawwal 7, 1423

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SRINAGAR, Dec 11: Indian troops on Wednesday claimed killing eight Mujahideen in fresh clashes in occupied Kashmir.

Three other people were also killed in the held state on Wednesday.

“Three of the rebels (Mujahideen) were killed during a fierce encounter that started late Tuesday and ended in the early hours of Wednesday,” a spokesman for India’s Border Security Force (BSF) said.

He said the three were killed during an operation following specific information given to the BSF and the Indian army in the village of Gadool, some 60 kilometres south of Srinagar.

“The slain militants belonged to the pro-Pakistan Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islami,” he said, adding two of the dead were local Muslims.

However, residents said one of the slain men was an innocent civilian.

A police spokesman said Indian forces on Tuesday night shot dead four Mujahideen in the Baramulla and Anantnag districts.

In Udhampur district an Indian soldier and a militant were killed in an encounter on Tuesday night, police said.

In Doda district unknown men opened fire at the house of a long-ruling National Conference leader, killing his guard, police said.

Twenty-seven people were injured on Wednesday, 10 seriously, in a grenade explosion in Pulwama, 40 kilometres south of Srinagar.—AFP