01 February 2005	Tuesday	21 Zilhaj 1425

SRINAGAR, Jan 31: Eleven people, including seven civilians, were killed in fresh violence a day ahead of municipal polls in occupied Kashmir, officials said on Monday.

Police said a mother and three children were killed when suspected Kashmiri fighters lobbed hand grenades into the home of Abdul Aziz after he refused to open the door to them in Doda district early on Monday.

Mr Aziz and three others were injured in the attack, a police spokesman said. "The motive for the killings was not known," he said. People in Doda town later staged a protest rally against the attack, witnesses said.

About 800 people took part in the demonstration as shops and businesses closed, they said. In Anantnag district, Kashmiri fighters overnight stormed into another household, wounding the owner and killing his wife.

"They abducted his student son and later hanged him to death," the spokesman said. Suspected Mujahideen overnight shot dead a contractor, police said. No group claimed responsibility for the civilian deaths.

Meanwhile, Indian troops shot dead four Mujahideen, three of them members of the Lashkar-i-Taiba, in the districts of Rajouri, Anantnag and Pulwama overnight, police said.

SEXUAL ABUSE: An Indian army major found guilty of sexually molesting a 10-year-old girl and her mother in occupied Kashmir is to be dismissed, a spokesman said on Monday.

The decision by a military court was one of the swiftest to deliver justice to victims of abuse by Indian security forces battling Mujahideen in the disputed Himalayan state.

"Major Rehman Hussain, who was accused of rape and other charges ... has been found not guilty of the charge of rape but found guilty of other charges and the officer has been sentenced to be dismissed from service," Colonel R.K. Sen said. The other charges related to molesting the woman and her daughter in their house in October, he said. -Agencies