IRNA -- At least 32 people were killed and scores injured in gunbattles in the mountainous regions of Kashmir while militants triggered explosions at four places and made yet another bid on the life of a senior state minister overnight, reports said Wednesday morning. The bloody violence engulfed Kashmir as India and Pakistan inched closer towards restoring the stalled dialogue process.
| This stuff kicks into high gear as soon as the peace processor's plugged in. When it's turned on, it gets worse... |
Guns fell silent after nearly 48 hours in the southern Doda woods Tuesday afternoon, leaving 15 snuffies militants and seven army soldiers dead. The gunbattle, which began after troops laid siege of a vast forest in the Brath Nallah area in Doda district, also left 12 soldiers wounded. Police sources said four of the injured were stated to be in a serious condition. An official spokesman said in Jammu all the killed militants were foreign nationals, but did not identify them.
| I doubt if they were Samoans... Probably not Lapplanders, either, though you can never tell with them. Or they could be Paks and Arabs of various flavors... |
Reports quoting official sources said the militants were holding a meeting of their command councils when the army, during a search operation, challenged them to surrender. The militants refused to lay down their arms and instead fired rifle grenades and opened indiscriminate firing from mountain peaks. The advancing troops bombed the militant positions with mortars and automatic weapons. The densely wooded area was rattling with explosions and intense gunfire. A report said several huts of nomadic Gujjar tribes were destroyed in the gunbattle.
| "Uhhh... We ain't with — Hey! Watch it! That's my hut! Omigawd! My baseball glove! Damn! That used to be my wife!" |
According to the report, fire broke out in the forest area during the gunbattle.
| "Hot dang! Too hot for me! I'm migratin' someplace else..." |
Late in the night a group of suspected militants attacked the ancestral home of a senior minister, Muzafar Hussain Baig, in Baramulla. The minister, who holds the portfolios of finance, planning, law and parliamentary affairs, was there when the attack took place. The security men present repulsed the attack after an hour-long exchange of fire according to the reports. The army was called in, which later cordoned-off the area. This was the second attack on Baig, who quit as ruling party chief last night, within a week's time.
| "Alright! Alright! I quit! Let somebody else's house get shot up!" |
Six suspected militants, three of whom police described as Fidayeen, were killed elsewhere during the same period in gunbattles with Indian troops. Three IED explosions were triggered by militants, in which two BSF personnel received injuries elsewhere. The first blast took place at Padgampur village in Pulwama district of South Kashmir. Militants detonated two IEDs at Origam, near Khansahib in the central district of Budgam Bundzoo, in Pulwama. The Hizbul Mujahideen, which claimed responsibility, said a large number of soldiers were killed and injured in the explosions. |