Indian forces, rebels clash in Kashmir

GOVERNMENT forces in Indian-administered Kashmir were locked in an intense battle yesterday with militants who took cover in a school after opening fire on a group of paramilitary police on the eve of Eid, police said.

The militants ambushed the paramilitary patrol on Saturday evening, killing one trooper and injuring two others in a hail of bullets, before fleeing into the nearby school on the outskirts of the region’s main city of Srinagar.

Police and soldiers surrounded the school as the militants continued firing on them, inspector general of police in Kashmir, Muneer Ahmed Khan, said.

“The operation is continuing. We are . . . searching floor by floor, and room by room. It will take time,” he said.

The Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which ends with the Eid al-Fitr feast, has been a particularly bloody one for mainly Muslim Kashmir.

Fifty-one people had been killed this Ramadan in the restive reigon, Khurram Parvez, from the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, said. It monitors conflict-related deaths.

Among the dead was a policeman beaten to death by an angry mob outside a mosque on Thursday.

Earlier that same day, a civilian was killed and several wounded when troops opened fire on a crowd gathered for the funeral of three rebels slain by Indian soldiers.

A week earlier, six officers were ambushed and killed by suspected rebels.

More civilians and militants were among the dead this Ramadan than last, Parvez said.

The conflict has increasingly drawn in civilians, many of whom oppose Indian rule.

Whole communities sometimes come out to throw stones at government forces as they fight militants.

On Saturday, as troops battled the rebels, civilians rushed to the scene chanting anti-Indian slogans and hurling rocks at the soldiers. Authorities have barred people from coming within 5km of Saturday’s shooting, and blocked the highway connecting Srinagar with the restive Kashmir Valley to the south.

Clashes between government forces and civilians have worsened in the disputed region since the death of a hugely popular rebel commander last July.

The anniversary of Burhan Wani’s death next month is expected to bring more violence.

India last week deployed two additional army battalions to troubled regions in the southern Kashmir area.

Officials say dozens of young men have joined rebel ranks since security forces killed Wani.

Rights groups say 197 people have been killed so far this year in Kashmir, among them 55 civilians.

The territory has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 but both claim it in its entirety. – AFP