10 January 2005	Monday	28 Ziqa'ad 1425

SRINAGAR, Jan 9: Three Indian army soldiers and a wanted commander of a major Kashmiri group were among seven people killed in latest violence in occupied Kashmir, police said on Sunday.

A gun battle near the southern town of Shopian, 50 kilometers south of Srinagar, left two Indian soldiers dead and another injured, a police spokesman said. In Poonch district, Indian troops shot dead a commander of the Hizbul Mujahedin, the spokesman said.

He identified the dead man as Khalid Chitrali, alias Abu Usman. "Khalid was one of the most wanted militants in Poonch," he said. Another Hizb rebel was shot dead during a clash by troops in the neighbouring district of Udhampur, police said, while Kashmiri fighters gunned down a soldier in Doda district overnight.

Police said suspected group shot dead a Muslim and a Sikh in their houses in Doda and Udhampur districts overnight. -AFP