September 12, 2003	Friday	Rajab 14, 1424

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SRINAGAR, Sept 11: A student was killed and 19 civilians and a soldier injured on Thursday in a grenade attack in a market in Kashmir, while five more people were killed elsewhere in the region, officials said.

Freedom fighters hurled a grenade at a patrol of India’s paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) in the bustling Lal Chowk commercial area, injuring the 19 bystanders and a trooper, the police said.

Rehana Hamid, a student, died instantly and four other civilians were in a serious condition after the attack, a police official said.

Al-Umar Mujahidin claimed responsibility for the attack, a provincial news agency said.

In more violence a man was shot dead during a fight between militants and the BSF on Wednesday near the town of Awantipora, 30km south of Srinagar, a BSF spokesman said. Residents alleged the victim was deliberately shot by troopers in an ambush.

Militants shot dead a retired soldier in the southern district of Doda on Wednesday, while a civilian was shot dead in the village of Sumbal, on the outskirts of Srinagar, police said.

Indian troops killed two militants in two encounters in southern Poonch district overnight, they said.

Police meanwhile detained Javed Mir, vice chairman of the pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, and of his 12 supporters when they attempted to protest against alleged excesses by troops, witnesses said.

MINISTER RESIGNS: Kashmir’s agriculture minister offered his resignation on Thursday after media reports linked him to freedom fighters who staged a bloody attack at a temple in western state of Gujarat.—AFP