2 April, 2005	Saturday	22 Safar 1426

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SRINAGAR, April 1: Indian troops gunned down four Mujahideen in separate clashes in occupied Kashmir, the army said on Friday. Three militants were shot dead during a night-long clash near the town of Shopian, 50km south of Srinagar, Lt-Col V.K. Batra told AFP. The fourth died in a fire-fight with troops in the forests of Sonbari in Anantnag on Friday, he said.

Police said a civilian and a soldier were injured during the clash in Sonbari. Columns of National Rifles, Indian army’s wing to counter freedom struggle, ringed the forests overnight following the abduction and subsequent killing on Thursday of three Muslim villagers allegedly by suspected militants.

“As troops closed in, militants opened fire triggering a gunbattle,” the spokesman said. Meanwhile, personnel from India’s Border Security Force seized four scooters laden with over 100km of explosives on a road in Baramulla overnight, BSF deputy inspector-general R.K. Bhargva told AFP.

“The scooter-bombs were to be used by the militants against their targets,” he said, adding the seizure was made on a tip-off.—AFP