May 20, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1424

SRINAGAR, May 19: Sixteen people, six of them members of a Muslim family, were killed and 19 others injured in occupied Kashmir in a fresh bout of violence, officials said on Monday.

The six of a family were shot dead in Rajouri, 150kms west of held Jammu, where unidentified men forced their way into the house of Mehmood Gujjar.

The dead included four women and two children, Arshad Ahmed, four, and Maroof Ahmed, two, the spokesman said. The eldest victim was Khatoon Begum, 60.

Indian troops claimed killing five militants in the early hours of Monday near Kokernag, a picnic spot in Anantnag district, and at the village of Gunjod in the Udhampur district.

A Muslim woman died when she strayed into the crossfire between the militants and the Indian forces in Kathua district, police said.

Militants shot dead a Muslim policeman near the highway township of Awantipora, 30 kilometres south of Srinagar.

A member of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) was shot dead from point-blank range in Srinagar on Monday afternoon.—AFP