07 February 2004	Saturday	15 Zilhaj 1424

SRINAGAR, Feb 6: Indian troops shot dead 11 Mujahideen, including a commander of a group, in the occupied Kashmir, while suspected guerrillas killed four soldiers and beheaded a civilian, police said on Friday.

The fresh spate of violence followed the deaths of 23 people on Thursday across the Indian-occupied Kashmir, marking the bloodiest day since Pakistan and India agreed to resume talks a month ago.

Indian troops, backed by police and para-military forces, have stepped up operations against the Mujahideen active in the disputed territory.

Counter-insurgency police early Friday shot and killed Mohammad Rafique, popularly known as Lidder, a senior commander of the Al Umar Mujahideen group.

Mohammad Rafique "was killed in a counter-insurgency operation" in Srinagar, a police spokesman said. The group's supreme commander, Mushtaq Zargar, said Rafique had served as Al Umar's operational chief commander and called his death "a big loss to us".

"We will not allow his martyrdom to go waste," Zargar told local newspapers by telephone, naming Khalid Javed as the slain commander's successor.

In another clash in a wooded area in the village of Darwas Behak, near the town of Bandipora, six Mujahideen and one soldier was killed, an army spokesman said. Two Mujahideen and three soldiers died in another clash in the Poonch district, police said.

Two other Mujahideen were killed when security forces intercepted them in Bimbergali in the southern part of the disputed territory. Police said suspected Mujahideen beheaded a man in the Budgam district. -APP