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Suspected rebels kill 4 in renewed violence in Kashmir |
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December 3, 2000
SRINAGAR--(AP) - Suspected Islamic militants killed four sleeping Hindu children in troubled Kashmir despite a government-ordered temporary cease-fire, police said Saturday. But a top Kashmir separatist leader flew into the Indian capital from Srinagar on Saturday, raising hopes of talks with the Indian government to end the 11-year-old insurgency. Some unidentified gunmen barged into the home of Gian Chand in a remote mountainous village on Friday night and shot and killed four children, in the age-group 3-15, police said. Other details were not immediately available. The attack was the third on the minority Hindus since Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee halted all military operations against the separatist groups on Tuesday during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan. Nineteen people have been killed in apparent militant attacks since the cease-fire went into effect on Tuesday. No one claimed responsibility for the latest attack in Sajru, a remote village in Udhampur district, 175 kilometers (110 miles) north of Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu-Kashmir state. Meanwhile, Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat, leader of an alliance of 23 Kashmiri separatist groups, flew into New Delhi on Saturday. Bhat, chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, declined comment on local media reports that he would hold talks with Indian officials or unofficial mediators representing the government. "Let us not say anything before it happens," Bhat told The Associated Press before leaving for the Indian capital. The alliance has welcomed India's cease-fire, but demands that Pakistan also be included in the peace talks. It has made little headway persuading other Islamic groups to accept the cease-fire. Other rebels groups have said they would step up their violent campaign despite the cease-fire announced by the Indian government. Prime Minister Vajpayee has ordered that the security forces would only fire in self-defense. Vajpayee hoped the cease-fire would draw the guerrillas and political leaders - demanding Kashmir's separation or merger with Pakistan - to the negotiation table. On Saturday, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a main Islamic guerrilla group based in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for a twin car bomb attack and vowed more attacks in a telephone call to a Srinagar-based newspaper, The Kashmir Monitor. The bombs were set off Friday in the Jehangir Square business district in the heart of Srinagar, the summer capital of the troubled state of Jammu-Kashmir. No one was hurt as most people had gone to the mosque for Friday prayers. "It was a beginning and many more such attacks would follow," the paper quoted the spokesman as saying. Since Britain carved up the subcontinent at independence in 1947, both India and Pakistan have claimed all of Kashmir and fought two of their three wars over it. A 1972 cease-fire line, known as the line of control, divides Kashmir between the two countries. More than a dozen rebel groups are active in Kashmir. At least 30,000 people have been killed since in the insurgency, though human rights officials say the number is at least double. India says it refuses to talk with Pakistan until it stops arming and funding the Islamic militants. Pakistan says it only provides moral support. |