November 26, 2003	Wednesday	Shawwal 1, 1424

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SRINAGAR, Nov 25: A police guard and a shopkeeper were killed and four people injured when suspected Kashmiri fighters attacked the car of a politician in Kashmir, police said on Tuesday.

Five people died elsewhere in two shooting incidents, police said.

Bushan Lal, from the pro-India Awami League, was seriously injured in the attack overnight in the southern town of Anantnag.

Police said Mr Lal was travelling in his car when Mujahideen opened fire, killing a bodyguard. A nearby shopkeeper was also killed and three other civilians injured in the shooting.

Meanwhile, two soldiers and two Mujahideen were killed in a clash in the Kalaban area of the southern Udhampur district on Tuesday.

“On receipt of information about a rebel hideout in the forest belt of Kalaban, Indian troops ringed the area,” a police spokesman said.

The Mujahideen opened fire, killing two soldiers before the security forces blew up the hideout killing two rebels.

Three Kashmiris were injured on Tuesday when Indian troops fired on a crowd of about 2,000 demonstrators protesting the death in custody of a 28-year-old Kashmiri youth in the village of Chatrigul in Anantnag district, witnesses said.

Army officials said the youth, Mohammed Yaqoob Khan, was killed overnight when he tried to snatch a rifle from a soldier during interrogation, forcing another soldier to shoot at him.—AFP