SRINAGAR, Kashmir (AFP)-At least 19 more people were killed in separatist-linked violence in Kashmir, as the Indian army ended a two-day siege of Muslim fighters sheltering in a mosque in the Himalayan valley.
Three civilians, including a woman, died and 10 others were injured in a grenade attack near the northern township of Bandipora, 70 kilometers (40 miles) north of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, the police said.
Muslim fighters hurled the grenade at a paramilitary security patrol. The grenade missed its target and exploded among a group of passers-by. Police and federal paramilitary guards, a police spokesperson said, immediately cordoned off the area.
Indian troops shot dead two Muslims in the northern district of Kupwara, and said one of them was a Muslim fighter from neighboring Pakistan who belonged to the Hizbul Mujahedeen separatist force.
Six more fighters were shot by the troops in three separate encounters in northern and southern Kashmiri districts, the police said, adding that a young Muslim boy died when he strolled over an unexploded shell in northern Kashmir.
Indian troops pulled out of a village in Kashmir after a two-day siege of Muslims in a mosque ended with the killing of three-resistance fighters. Two soldiers, including a major, were also killed in the operation, the spokesperson said.
The army pulled out after the third fighter was killed late Sunday night at Dodhipora village, near Handwara town, 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Srinagar city. The other two militants had been killed when they jumped out of the mosque and tried to escape after setting off an explosion as a diversion.
The 50-hour siege began when the three resistance fighters sought refuge in the mosque after troops sealed Dodhipora on Saturday to conduct a house-to-house search. Police said the troops had returned to their barracks, while villagers who fled the area had started to drift back.
More than 25,000 people have died in Kashmir since 1989 in violence linked to a Muslim separatist drive. India accuses Pakistan, which administers part of the disputed Himalayan province, of fuelling insurgency in its territory.
Islamabad denied the charge but extends moral and diplomatic support to the unrest. Archrivals India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since their independence from British colonial rule in 1947. The conflict in Kashmir was one of the main issues discussed during U.S. President Bill Clinton's March 20-25 visit to the South Asian subcontinent.
