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Firefight in Kashmir city, people trapped

Posted on: Saturday, 30 July 2005, 05:34 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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