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Kashmir violence surge kills 23 { April 22 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Tuesday 22.04.2003, CET 15:09
April 22, 2003 11:15 AM
Surge in Kashmir violence kills 23
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - At least 23 people, including six villagers, have been killed in Indian Kashmir in a bomb attack on
a crowded cattle-milking yard and in separate gunbattles between security forces and suspected Muslim rebels.
The surge in violence on Tuesday comes just a few days after Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee urged talks with
Pakistan and with separatists to end the bloodshed in Kashmir, a scenic Himalayan valley claimed by both nuclear-armed
neighbours.
India says more than 38,000 people have died in the revolt against New Delhi's rule in its only Muslim-majority state, although
separatists put the toll closer to 85,000.
A homemade bomb planted by suspected Islamic separatists went off early in the morning as villagers at Tral, south of the
summer capital, Srinagar, crowded into a communal yard to milk their cattle, police said.
Six people were killed and another 13 were injured, many seriously.
"It was an improvised explosive device planted near a field and was probably meant to target security forces," a police
spokesman told Reuters.
Hours later, four soldiers were wounded when their vehicle ran over a landmine in nearby Qazigund, police said. No group
claimed responsibility for either blats.
In the biggest clash, 13 suspected militants were shot dead in a battle with troops 255 km (160 miles) north of the winter capital,
Jammu, near the ceasefire line separating Indian and Pakistani Kashmir, police said.
They did not say if Indian forces suffered any casualties.
"The militants were asked to surrender but refused to do so," a police officer told Reuters. "The operation is still going on and
the toll may go up further."
Four separatists were killed in another shootout 175 km (110 miles) north of Jammu.
India accuses Pakistan, an Islamic nation, of arming and training rebels and sending them across the border. These infiltrations
increase in summer, when snows melt in the mountains which straddle the frontier.
Pakistan denies the charge.
The two nations came close to their third war over Kashmir at the height of a 10-month military standoff last year, triggered by
an attack on India's parliament that New Delhi blamed on Kashmiri separatists based in Pakistan.
The tensions alarmed foreign governments and sparked a flurry of diplomatic lobbying.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is expected to visit South Asia within weeks in a bid to ease tensions and
press for dialogue.
Reuters
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