SRINAGAR, India - Thousands of slogan-shouting Muslims on Thursday joined the funeral procession of five militants killed by Indian troops during a mosque siege in the southern part of Indian Kashmir, witnesses said.
| Wonder if they did a body swarm? |
More than 6,000 men, women and children Thursday gathered in the village of Khilangung in Pulwama district for the funeral of the five militants, who died overnight in a clash with Indian troops. The five were killed by Indian troops hours after they barricaded themselves inside a mosque, police said.
| Guess they built that one out of straw ... |
The bodies were laid out Thursday as villagers showered them with petals and sweets, witnesses said. About a dozen members of two dominant rebel groups, Hizbul Mujahedin and Lashkar-e-Taiba, appeared on the scene, some with weapons, prompting shouts from mourners of "Long live Hizbul, Long live Lashkar". The slain rebels were members of one or other of the two groups, said police.
| "We can't really tell anymore, there's so little left of 'em." |
Meanwhile, a policeman was killed and four bank employees injured Thursday when suspected rebels raided a bank near Shopian town, 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of summer capital Srinagar, police said. "Casualties occurred when a solo police guard and employees resisted moves by gunmen to loot the bank," a police spokesman said.
| Our heroic Islamic heroes rob a bank. |
 In other violence in the restive state, Indian troops shot dead four militants in three separate encounters in Anantnag and Budgam districts overnight, a police spokesman said. One of the slain rebels was identified as Muzamil Lone alias Furqan, who police said was a self-styled senior commander of Hizbul.
| "He was always sounding off ..." |
In another incident, suspected rebels shot dead an alleged police informer overnight in the northern district of Kupwara, bordering Pakistan-administered Kashmir, police said.
Meanwhile, residents in the southern Kashmir town of Anantnag staged protests Thursday over the arrest of 11 people earlier this week, police and witnesses said. Police say those arrested were behind last month's murder of pro-India politician Safder Ali Beigh and an assassination attempt on Omar Abdullah, the head of Indian Kashmir's main opposition National Conference. Residents say all those arrested are innocent.
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