SRINAGAR, Aug 30: Thirteen people were killed in occupied Kashmir on Saturday, including three in a 10-hour gunbattle after Indian troops raided a building they believed housed a mastermind of the 2001 attack on India’s parliament.

The bodies of two suspects and one soldier were recovered after troops secured the house in Srinagar, said a spokesman for India’s paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF).

The BSF spokesman said one of the fatalities could be Gazi Baba, said to be a leader of the Jaish-i-Mohammed blamed for the Dec 13, 2001, attack on India’s parliament.

The parliament raid left dead 15 people, including the five assailants. Baba, aged about 40, has since been among India’s most-wanted militants.

However, in a denial, Jaish spokesman Abu Muslim said Baba was not among those killed in the Srinagar encounter.

“Only two of our boys achieved martyrdom, while other mujahideen managed to give a slip to the (Indian) security forces,” he told a local news agency.

Mr Muslim identified the two slain men as Abu Huraira and Abu Kashah, adding the men had been holding a meeting when the raid took place.

“Gazi Baba is safe and sound. Indian troops can never find him,” he said.—AFP