URI, Oct 11: India’s prime minister on Tuesday pledged to rebuild the lives of thousands of people in occupied Kashmir whose world was destroyed by South Asia’s earthquake, declaring it ‘a national calamity’.

But Manmohan Singh’s call for unity came as fighting continued between militants and soldiers trying to reach thousands of survivors, many still believed trapped under rubble.

At least eight guerillas were killed in an overnight gunbattle in Kupwara, one of the areas near the Line of Control (LoC) worst hit by the quake.

Mr Singh announced $110 million in extra aid — taking the total package to almost $145 million — after touring the worst-hit areas along the LoC.

“I’m sure we will once again help you to start a new life,” Mr Singh said in a public address in Uri, a once bustling riverside trading town all but destroyed by Saturday’s quake.

“I assure the people of Jammu and Kashmir that money will not be a constraint in meeting the legitimate rehabilitation needs,” Mr Singh later told reporters in Srinagar. —Reuters