March 17, 2003	Monday	Muharram 13, 1424

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JAMMU, March 16: Eleven people, including nine policemen, were killed and four were missing when mujahideen attacked a remote police post in disputed Kashmir early on Sunday, police said.

The attack took place near Gool, in Udhampur district, 65 km from Jammu.

“They struck early in the morning with rifle grenades and automatic weapons, killing nine policemen and two civilians,” a police official told Reuters in Jammu.

Twenty-five policemen were on duty at the post at the time.

Four policemen are still missing after the attack, which police believe involved 6 heavily armed mujahideen at 1:30am, who began firing indiscriminately.

They escaped into dense surrounding forest after a 90-minute gunbattle. Security forces are now combing the area.

“The casualties were high as the attack was multi-pronged,” a police official said.

Police said representatives of four mujahideen groups, Harkat Ul Jehadi Islami, Harkat Ul Mujahideen, Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-i-Taiba called local news agencies to claim responsibility for the attack.

The police post was completely destroyed in the attack. Its roof collapsed and bodies lay scattered around it, police said.

On Friday, seven people were killed in a gunbattle between suspected separatists and security forces in Poonch near a ceasefire line dividing Indian and Pakistan Kashmir.—Reuters