E-Paper
Rebels kill two policemen in Kashmir: police
Islamic militants have shot dead two policemen in a fresh outbreak of violence in restive Indian Kashmir, police said on Saturday.
Islamic militants have shot dead two policemen in a fresh outbreak of violence in restive Indian Kashmir, police said on Saturday.
A group of heavily armed militants, fighting to end Indian rule in the scenic Muslim-majority Himalayan region, apprehended three policemen and snatched their weapons and mobile phones, police said.
The three policemen "were later taken to a mountain top where two were shot dead and a third policeman managed to give the militants the slip," a police spokesman said.
The incident took place on Friday evening in the southern district of Doda, police said.
Authorities have mounted a massive search operation to track down the militants, police said.
Guerrillas have been waging an insurgency since 1989 against India's rule of the region in a conflict that has left more than 47,000 people dead.
The past few months have witnessed fresh incidents of militant infiltration from Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Ramadan, which started on August 23, has been marked by a step-up in violence in Kashmir as some militants believe those who die fighting during the holy month gain more heavenly rewards.
Despite the latest violence, bloodshed in the region has declined sharply since India and Pakistan, whose territorial dispute over Kashmir has triggered two wars, embarked on a peace process in 2004.
Talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours were suspended in the wake of the militant attacks last November on India's financial capital Mumbai in which 166 people died.
