June 1, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 29, 1424

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SRINAGAR, May 31: Eight people, seven Muslim Kashmiris and an Indian soldier were killed while 21 others were injured in a surge of violence in occupied Kashmir, police said on Saturday.

A police spokesman said two Kashmiris and a soldier were killed and two army soldiers injured in a five-hour gunbattle in the central Kashmir district of Budgam.

A civilian, Ghulam Mohammed, was killed in the crossfire, he said.

The encounter erupted when Indian army troops, backed by police, ringed a residential house where freedom fighters had taken refuge, he said.

“During the exchange of fire few houses were also damaged,” he said.

Indian troops shot dead five more people in four separate encounters around the province on Saturday, police said.—AFP