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9 killed kashmir raid { July 22 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3131654http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3131654
Nine Killed in Rebel Raid on Kashmir Army Camp
Tue July 22, 2003 06:51 AM ET
By Ashok Pahalwan
BANGTI, India (Reuters) - Two heavily armed Islamic militants hurling grenades stormed an army camp in Indian-controlled Kashmir Tuesday, killing seven soldiers before being shot dead, police said.
The dawn suicide raid came just hours after suspected rebels killed six people and wounded 46 Monday night in an attack on pilgrims setting out for the Vaishno Devi shrine, one of the holiest Hindu sites in Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir.
One of the dead soldiers was a Hindu priest and his body was found near a small temple inside the camp, an army officer said.
The latest violence in Kashmir, the heart of half a century of wars and tension between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, appeared unlikely to derail slow but steady efforts to improve relations.
India's parliament -- quick to blame Pakistan in the past -- condemned the bloodshed but counselled restraint.
The main separatist alliance in Pakistani Kashmir condemned Monday's attack as "sheer terrorism."
"There will be attacks like this, we have to make sure we do not get provoked," said Prakash Mani Tripathi, a lawmaker from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party which leads India's governing coalition.
None of the groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir for 13 years have claimed responsibility for either Monday's attack or Tuesday's raid on the army camp about 30 km (20 miles) northwest of Jammu, the winter capital.
In Pakistani Kashmir, the United Jihad Council, the main separatist alliance, condemned the violence against the pilgrims.
"No mujahid (holy warrior) or jihadi organization are involved in such acts act because these do not serve our cause," council chief Syed Salahuddin told Reuters, adding it might have been staged by Indian authorities.
Hours after Tuesday's gunbattle, hundreds of soldiers in fatigues were still searching the maize fields surrounding the camp for more militants.
"We could hear firing intermittently for four hours. We were hiding in our house," said Ravinder Kumar who runs a phone booth near the camp.
The guerrillas arrived at the front gate and opened fire.
"They got inside, they fired indiscriminately, both the fedayeen (attackers) died," Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani told parliament.
Security was also being tightened for pilgrims bound for Amarnath, another key Hindu mountain shrine in Kashmir, who have been frequently targeted by militants in previous years.
"There are good signs in Jammu and Kashmir, said Advani. "There are more pilgrims, there are more tourists this year. The militants are trying to break the normalcy that is coming on."
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of fueling the revolt. Pakistan denies the charge, saying it provides only moral backing to what it calls a legitimate freedom struggle.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan came close to their fourth war last year, but relations have thawed over the past few months after Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said he wanted to make a new push for peace.
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