JAMMU, India, March 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - At least 16 policemen have been killed and nine others injured in an attack by Kashmiri fighters in Indian-administered Kashmir, BBC reports.
Jammu Inspector General of Police R.V Raju, said the police party had gone to Kalaband village in Surankote district, some 170 kilometers (105 miles) northwest of Kashmir's winter capital Jammu on Thursday on a tip-off that Kashmir fighters were hiding in the area.
After visiting the area, the policemen were returning to Jammu when they were ambushed near the village, said Raju.
"A team of heavily-armed militants hurled grenades, rockets and opened automatic gunfire on the police patrol. We expect the casualties to be high. We have recovered 15 bodies, six people are injured and five missing," said Raju.
Army columns and the deputy inspector general of police went to the spot to trace the missing policemen.
Abu Osama, spokesman of Kashmir's dominant pro-Pakistan Lashkar-e-Taiba group, said in Srinagar that the attack was "a joint operation" between them and the Hizbul Mujahideen, Hizbi Islami and Jashe-Mohammad outfits.
"This was an Eid operation and such operations will be extended till Eid," Osama said.
The Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated on March 6th.
The pan-Islamic Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaishe Mohammed groups are among 21 "terrorist" organizations banned on Wednesday by British Home Secretary Jack Straw from operating in Britain.
Violence in the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir has continued even though India recently extended its ceasefire, or suspension of offensive operations against militants, by three months to the end of May.
The ceasefire was welcomed by the international community but rejected by the Kashmiri groups, who said it was a ploy by India to gain international sympathy.
The insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir has claimed around 34,000 lives since its launch in 1989.
