Firefight in Kashmir city, people trapped

By Sheikh Mushtaq

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – A gunbattle between Muslim
militants and Indian troops in the heart of Kashmir’s main city
entered a second day on Saturday amid concerns for the safety
of about 40 people trapped in nearby buildings.

Two soldiers have been killed and 20 people, including
seven journalists, wounded in the fighting. Witnesses said the
area had been cordoned off by hundreds of troops, who were
backed by armored jeeps and trucks mounted with machine guns.

An unspecified number of militants had positioned
themselves in two buildings in central Srinagar after they
raided the city’s main business center on Friday afternoon,
sparking a fierce battle with troops.

Police and witnesses said some 40 people were trapped in a
newspaper office, the Daily Aftab, and in a hotel next to a
building where the militants were holed up.

“They are all scared but safe,” Zahoor Ahmad, an editor on
the Urdu language newspaper, told Reuters by phone from the
office.

On Saturday morning, police and soldiers rescued at least
20 civilians, including some children, who had been stranded in
a bank in the area as shots were exchanged between the
guerrillas and troops, a police officer said.

Security officials said they planned to flush out the
militants, armed with grenades and automatic rifles, soon but
were being careful to avoid civilian casualties.

“On the backside of the building, we are drilling a hole to
push soldiers in to flush out the terrorists,” a Border
Security Force officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters
without elaborating.

Television cameramen and photographers who had rushed to
cover Friday’s firefight got caught in the crossfire. Seven
were hurt, including a cameraman who was in a critical
condition.

“PEACE LIKE A MIRAGE”

In Srinagar, streets were quieter than usual as many people
stayed indoors to keep out of the way.

“Incidents like this make me feel hopeless. Peace for
Kashmir is like a mirage,” Abdul Ahad, a 50-year-old
businessman, said.

Two Islamic groups fighting New Delhi’s authority over
Kashmir, Al-Mansuriyan and Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, claimed
responsibility for the raid.

“Four Mujahideen of Al-Mansuriyan and Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen
groups who have engaged Indian forces in a fierce gunbattle are
safe and have inflicted heavy casualties on the security
forces,” a statement of Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen said.

New Delhi has said that despite a peace process with
nuclear rival Pakistan, Islamabad allows Muslim militants to
infiltrate into Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani side of the
bitterly disputed Himalayan region.

Officials say there has been a surge in incursion attempts
across the military ceasefire line that divides Kashmir in
recent weeks as snow melts in high mountain passes.

On Friday, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf tried to
ease Indian concerns over reports that militant camps were
re-opening on his country’s side of the line, saying the
situation was “on the mend.”

More than 45,000 people have died in the revolt in mainly
Hindu India’s only Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir.