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Police arrest 4 suspects in militants' raid on airport in Kashmir

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January 18, 2001 

SRINAGAR-- (AP) - Police arrested four people Wednesday for suspected involvement in an Islamic militants' attack on the high-security airport in this Kashmir capital, which left 12 people dead and another eight wounded.

Those arrested included two government officials of the forest department and the driver of the vehicle that was used by the militant suicide squad. The vehicle belonged to the forest department, said Ashok Bhan, the inspector-general of police.

The fourth person arrested was a mechanic who had repaired the vehicle used in the attack in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state.

The attackers hurled grenade and fired guns when challenged by the security forces manning the entry gate on Tuesday, said Bhan.

Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, one of the Pakistan-based guerrilla groups fighting to separate the mountainous Kashmir from India, claimed responsibility for the attack and said six of the attackers were killed in the fighting with Indian soldiers.

The dead included two civilians and four soldiers, one of them succumbing to injuries in hospital on Wednesday, Bhan said. One 16-year-old girl, who had come to receive a friend at the airport, was shot and killed in the exchange of gunfire.

Police further tightened security at the airport after Tuesday's suicide attack.

Srinagar Airport is the most heavily guarded in India. Traffic on the road to the airport is often at a standstill because of multiple security checks, and passengers go through four or more body searches and luggage checks before they can board a plane out of Kashmir.

The 45-minute battle began when the militants were stopped at the first of the many security checkpoints, police said. They immediately began tossing grenades and firing their guns.

The Islamic militants have been fighting government forces since insurgency erupted in India-controlled Kashmir in 1989. The government says the fighting has killed more than 30,000 people, but the human rights group put the death toll around 60,000.

Kashmir has been divided between Pakistan and India since Britain granted them independence in 1947, but each country claims it in its entirety. The dispute has been the cause of two of the three wars between the two nations.

The Indian government declared a unilateral halt to military operations against the guerrilla groups on Nov. 28. The cease-fire - meant to entice Kashmiri groups to peace talks - has been extended until Jan. 26.

Guerrilla groups based in Pakistan have rejected the cease-fire and said they would step up attacks in response.

India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring the separatist militants, many of whom are based on its territory. Pakistan says it gives only moral and diplomatic support to the movement to separate Kashmir, the only Muslim majority state in predominantly Hindu India.