Guess that makes it 90,002 martyrs...
Two suspected Islamic militants have been shot dead in Indian-administered Kashmir after a raid on the home of the chief minister. Indian security forces killed them both after storming a Srinagar shopping complex where they were holed up. The centre had been surrounded by police after Friday's attack. Ten people trapped inside the four-storey Al Jan complex were rescued. The BBC's Altaf Hussein in Srinagar says it is the first time the Indian authorities have carried out such an operation without blowing up the occupied building.
| Sometimes you've got to do that, sometimes you don't... |
The abortive attack on the home of chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed is the most serious incident since an upsurge in separatist violence in Kashmir over the past two months. Two soldiers were killed and a number of civilians injured - including two press photographers - when militants threw grenades near Mr Sayeed's house and soldiers and security guards fired back.
| Since this is Kashmir, the grenades prob'ly missed the soldiers and killed the civs. The best part: |
Three different militant groups - Al Nasirin, Farzandan-e-Milat and Al Mansurian - said they carried out the raid.
| "We each contributed two-thirds of a guy..." |
A spokesman for Al Mansurian, Abu Shakir, told a local news agency: "Our target was [the] chief minister's residence, but the two gunmen who launched the attack stormed the wrong building."
| "Mahmoud! You're holding the map upside down!" |
However, Indian Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani accused the well-known Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, of being responsible. Referring to Pakistan, he added: "The attack shows that our neighbour's attitude hasn't changed yet."
| Haven't seen any of the three groups before, so they're probably a false nose and moustache for Lashkar e-Taiba... |
Islamabad responded by denying any involvement in the attack.
"There is no truth in Advani's allegations. We have nothing to do with the violence in Kashmir," said Pakistan's information minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.
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