SRINAGAR, March 2: Twelve people, including three children and two women, were killed in occupied Kashmir on Saturday and Friday night, police said.

They said a woman and three members of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen had been killed on Saturday in a gunbattle between freedom fighters and troops at Wahabpora, west of Srinagar.

Later, Indian forces shot dead two Mujahideen belonging to the Lashkar-i-Taiba, including its publicity chief, in the Rajouri district, southwest of Srinagar.

On Friday evening, three children including two girls died in an explosion near the Line of Control. In addition, unidentified men shot dead three civilians in Udhampur district, some 230kms southeast of Srinagar.

Paramilitary soldiers claimed they had arrested the head of a pro-Pakistan group and six of his associates in Srinagar.

“The Border Security Force apprehended Abdul Gani Dar, supreme commander of Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, along with six others from Srinagar city on Friday,” a BSF official said.

“On his guidance, Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen carried out many sensational actions, including improvised explosive device blasts, in (held) Kashmir,” a BSF statement said.

Normal life came to a halt on Saturday in held Jammu in response to a strike call by the VHP to protest the burning of a train carrying Hindu activists in Gujarat on Wednesday.—Reuters