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25 killed in Kashmir

In a sudden escalation of violence, 25 people, including 14 militants and two army personnel, were killed in the Kashmir valley on Monday.

The dead also include three members of a family -- a mother and two children, one of them a six-month-old baby -- at Kurhama, a village in Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah's constituency.

An army captain, a jawan and eight foreign militants were killed in encounter at Jiggerpora in Kupwara district. Police said the troops cordoned off the village and started search operations, whereupon the militants opened fire. The troops retaliated, killing eight and losing two.

At Dialgam in Anantnag, militants threw a hand grenade at security personnel passing by in a vehicle. The troops retaliated, and four passengers of a mini-bus was killed in the shooting that followed. Seven were injured. The area is said to be tense. Senior police and security officers have rushed to the spot.

In another shoot-out in South Kashmir's Dadsar Tral, two militants were killed by the police, a government press release said. However, residents of the area claim that the two were arrested by the Special Task Force last month and killed in custody.

Meanwhile, a general strike, called by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference to protest against 'the custodial killing' of Hizbul Mujaheedin deputy supreme commander Ali Mohmmad Dar, crippled life in Srinagar.

The slain militant was buried in village Pattan. APHC leaders told the media that security forces allowed only 15 people, mostly family members, to participate in the function.

The People League leaders, led by general secretary Naeem Ahmad Khan, tried to march to the United Nation's office to present a memorandum against the alleged excesses of government forces. However, they were arrested by the police on the way.

At Watal Kadal, Nawab Bazzar and the adjoining areas of Old city, police had to use baton and teargas to disperse stone-throwing youths.

UNI

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