SRINAGAR, Nov 23: Seven people were killed Wednesday, five of them during an attack by militants on a police camp in occupied Kashmir as mujahideen rejected an offer of assistance if they shun violence, officials said.

“Two militants and three policemen were killed during an attack by militants on one of our camps on Wednesday,” senior federal police officer S.R. Ojha told reporters in Srinagar.

He said two militants hurled grenades and opened fire with an intention to storm a camp housed in a defunct cinema hall in downtown Srinagar.

Mr Ojha said one militant was killed before he could storm into the roadside camp, while the second was killed inside the camp.

He said four more policemen and two civilians were injured during the brief exchange of fire between the two sides.

The gunshots and grenade explosions caused panic among civilians in the Hawal locality of downtown Srinagar, residents said.

The Indian army meanwhile killed two more militants during a gunbattle in southern Anantnag district early on Wednesday, police said.

The fresh violence came as region’s main rebel alliance rejected India’s offer of assistance to militants who give up violence.

“Mujahideen didn’t take up arms for perks and privileges. We will never go for a sell out,” a spokesman for the United Jihad Council, Syed Sadaqat Hussain, told the local Current News Service.

On Monday Indian army chief General J.J. Singh promised assistance to militants if they gave up arms.

“We will welcome those militants who want to shun the path of violence,” said Mr Singh on a visit to quake-devastated areas of occupied Kashmir.—AFP