35 killed in Kashmir
SRINAGAR, Nov 4: At least 35 people including 27 Kashmiri freedom fighters and five Indian soldiers were killed in occupied Kashmir on Sunday in separate clashes, including a suicide attack on an army camp, police and army officials said.
They said the mujahideen attacked the army camp at Dialgam with grenades early on Sunday after piercing the security ring.
Mujahideen fired rocket propelled grenades, and two entered the camp dressed in army uniform, a police officer said .
“In the ensuing encounter, security forces killed one terrorist. Four security personnel were killed,” an Indian army statement said. Police said the gunbattle continued for several hours. Dialgam lies south of Srinagar.
Lashkar-e-Taiba had claimed responsibility for the attack on the camp, saying eight Indian soldiers were killed and none of its members had died.
SHOOTOUTS: Police in Jammu said 16 mujahideen were killed in a gunbattle with security forces in the Poonch district, 256 kms north of Jammu.
“The encounter has been continuing since morning and so far 16 militants have been killed in a single encounter near Poonch,” a senior police official said.
Ten mujahideen, three civilians and an Indian soldier were killed across the state in other clashes, police and army officials said.
Meanwhile, two mujahideen groups on Sunday dismissed Indian claims of killing 20 guerillas near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir and said those killed were civilians.
Indian police on Friday said at least 20 activists, some of whom were trying to cross into Pakistan, were killed in a gunbattle in Poonch district.
“They were unarmed Kashmiri youths trying to enter into Pakistan-administered Kashmir to seek refuge due to atrocities of Indian forces”, the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen group said in a statement in Muzaffarabad.
It said the Indian forces arrested the “innocent civilians” before taking them to the LoC and shot them to death.—Reuters/AFP