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SRINAGAR (AFP) - Nearly 34,000 people have been killed in violence linked to the decade-old Kashmiri independence struggle movement in Indian-administered Kashmir, according to a police document seen Wednesday. The latest official update on the death toll from the movement launched in late 1989 put the number of people killed at 33,854, including Kashmiri fighters, security personnel and civilians. Kashmiri groups say the figure is more than 70,000. The breakdown of the death toll came to 19,781 civilians, 11,757 Kashmiri fighters, and 2,316 security personnel. Of the civilians, 9,571 were killed in triggered explosions and grenade attacks, 7,472 were allegedly gunned down by Kashmiri fighters, and 2,738 were killed in crossfire or as the result of police "law and order operations," the document said. India and Pakistan have fought two wars since independence over Kashmir, which is divided between the two countries by the UN-delineated Line of Control (LOC). Indian accuses Pakistan of arming and training Muslims in Indian Kashmir. Islamabad rejects the charge but lends open moral and diplomatic support to the insurgency. The police document said the security forces had seized 21,055 AK-47 assault rifles over the past 10 years, as well as 8,494 pistols, 972 heavy machine guns and 655 rocket launchers. |
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