.Militants Hit Both Sides in Kashmir
India and Pakistan saw surprise violence in the contentious border area of Kashmir on Wednesday as suspected Islamic militants engaged in a gun battle with police in Srinagar on the Indian side and a suicide bomber killed three Pakistani soldiers on the Pakistani-controlled side.
The Himalayan region has been relatively peaceful of late, and the incidents weren't expected to mark a return to sustained violence in an area that has become a flashpoint for terrorism and a source of tension between the two neighbors since the partition of India in 1947.
The suicide bomber struck a Pakistani army barracks, killing at least three soldiers and wounding 11 others. Pakistan police said the bomber detonated his explosives when stopped by security guards outside the facility near the border town of Rawalakot. The blast occurred as the soldiers were leaving their barracks in the morning, said Javed Iqbal, the chief of the regional police.
The western part of Kashmir, controlled by Pakistan, is home to several Islamic militant groups which have been involved in fighting Indian troops across the line of control that divides Kashmir. These groups, once patronized by Pakistani military intelligence, were outlawed in 2002 but have continued to operate under new banners. Some of the splinter groups have also been blamed for terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Pakistan on Wednesday. A senior security official said the involvement of some elements of outlawed militant outfit couldn't be ruled out.
Police in Srinagar, summer capital of the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir, were engaged in a gun battle with suspected militants that was still under way Wednesday evening in the city's crowded marketplace.
The militants threw grenades and opened fire on a contingent of paramilitary forces. One policeman was killed and two others injured.
Farooq Ahmad, an inspector-general of police in Srinagar, said the police had cordoned off Lal Chowk, the city's commercial hub, where the attack took place, and were closing in on "one or two militants who have reportedly holed up at a hotel in the area."
In India-ruled Kashmir, the last year saw the fewest deaths due to the insurgency since it escalated in 1990. The violence peaked in 2001, when more than 4,500 people were killed. Fatalities dropped to 377 in 2009, according to South Asia Terrorism Portal, a New Delhi-based research group.
WSJ
The Himalayan region has been relatively peaceful of late, and the incidents weren't expected to mark a return to sustained violence in an area that has become a flashpoint for terrorism and a source of tension between the two neighbors since the partition of India in 1947.
The suicide bomber struck a Pakistani army barracks, killing at least three soldiers and wounding 11 others. Pakistan police said the bomber detonated his explosives when stopped by security guards outside the facility near the border town of Rawalakot. The blast occurred as the soldiers were leaving their barracks in the morning, said Javed Iqbal, the chief of the regional police.
The western part of Kashmir, controlled by Pakistan, is home to several Islamic militant groups which have been involved in fighting Indian troops across the line of control that divides Kashmir. These groups, once patronized by Pakistani military intelligence, were outlawed in 2002 but have continued to operate under new banners. Some of the splinter groups have also been blamed for terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Pakistan on Wednesday. A senior security official said the involvement of some elements of outlawed militant outfit couldn't be ruled out.
Police in Srinagar, summer capital of the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir, were engaged in a gun battle with suspected militants that was still under way Wednesday evening in the city's crowded marketplace.
The militants threw grenades and opened fire on a contingent of paramilitary forces. One policeman was killed and two others injured.
Farooq Ahmad, an inspector-general of police in Srinagar, said the police had cordoned off Lal Chowk, the city's commercial hub, where the attack took place, and were closing in on "one or two militants who have reportedly holed up at a hotel in the area."
In India-ruled Kashmir, the last year saw the fewest deaths due to the insurgency since it escalated in 1990. The violence peaked in 2001, when more than 4,500 people were killed. Fatalities dropped to 377 in 2009, according to South Asia Terrorism Portal, a New Delhi-based research group.
WSJ
posted by madtom at 5:59 PM
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