October 16, 2003	Thursday	Sha'aban 19, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

SRINAGAR, Oct 15: Two Indian soldiers, three Mujahideen and a civilian were killed and 17 other people injured in Kashmir violence, police said on Wednesday.

Freedom fighters ambushed an army patrol late on Tuesday in the village of Chontimulla, about 60 kilometers north of Srinagar, killing a soldier and injuring five others, police said.

Army reinforcements were dispatched to the village, sealed it off and conducted house-to-house searches for the attackers.

A Kashmiri group, Al Mansoorain, claimed responsibility for the attack, a local news agency said.

In another overnight incident, nine civilians and two Indian soldiers were injured in a landmine explosion triggered by suspected Kashmiris in Kupwara district, police said.

“The mine buried under soil was apparently planted to target an army patrol,” a police spokesman said, adding that two of the injured civilians were in a serious condition.

Meanwhile, BSF personnel shot dead a militant in the Tral area of the southern Pulwama district overnight, police said.

Indian troops shot dead two more Mujahideen in the districts of Baramulla and Rajouri overnight and on Wednesday, police said.

Police said suspected freedom fighters beat to death a civilian Kala Gujjar in Deeda forests of southern Udhampur district overnight, while an Indian army soldier injured in a rocket attack in the same district on Monday died in military hospital on Wednesday.—AFP