November 09, 2007	Friday	Shawwal 27, 1428

SRINAGAR, Nov 8: Indian authorities said on Thursday they had barred 300 Kashmiris from making this year’s Haj because they allegedly had ties to militants. “Some 300 would-be pilgrims have failed to clear the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) investigations,” occupied Kashmir’s Haj minister, Peerzada Mohammed Sayeed, told reporters.

All Indian Muslims intending to perform Haj are vetted by the country’s security agencies.

A senior police officer told AFP that those who were barred, including politicians, were found to have links to militants.

Security officials argue that Kashmiris may use the annual event, which is to take place in December, to link up with their Pakistani contacts.

GUNBATTLE: Fierce gunbattle between government troops and suspected militants raged for a third day in occupied Kashmir on Thursday, police and army officials said.

Three soldiers and two suspected militants have been killed in the fighting as government forces battle militants in Pattan, a town 30 kilometres north of Srinagar, said Col Majinder Singh, an Indian army spokesman.

The fighting started late Tuesday when suspected militants hurled grenades and opened fire on an army patrol in Pattan, Singh said.

One soldier was killed on Tuesday and two others on Wednesday.

The fierce battle continued to rage on Thursday and troops recovered the body of a militant from a gutted house, a police official said. Another militant’s body was found on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, two troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force, were wounded when suspected militants opened fire on their camp at Sopore, a town 20 kilometres from Pattan, said M. S. Gupta, the CRPF inspector-general.—Agencies