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| Monday, 13 October 2003 |
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Nine killed as army chief says al-Qaeda active in Kashmir SRINAGAR, Sunday (AFP) Indian police reported nine more deaths in the latest bout of violence in restive Kashmir, where Indian army chief General Nirmal Chandra Vij said operatives of the al-Qaeda terror network were active. Indian troops shot dead five militants in the twin border districts of Kupwara and Baramulla overnight and in three separate encounters, a police spokesman said. He said two of the rebels were killed along the Line of Control (LoC) - the de facto border that divides Kashmir between nuclear-rivals India and Pakistan - in the Kupwara district. Police said two more rebels were killed elsewhere in the region, where suspected rebels shot dead two Muslim civilians, one of them a student. More than 39,500 people have died in Indian Kashmir since the eruption of the insurgency, according to official figures. Separatists put the toll at between 80,000 and 100,000. Meanwhile, Indian army chief Vij told reporters during a trip to the restive region Saturday that al-Qaeda was active in the area. "There is a presence of al-Qaeda militants in Kashmir," Vij told reporters in the state's winter capital Jammu. It is not the first time Indian officials have made the claim. Last year, Defence Minister George Fernandes also said al-Qaeda was operating in Indian Kashmir. Vij said 70 to 80 percent of militants in Kashmir were "coming from across the border and they are foreigners". Vij ruled out the possibility of Indian and Pakistani troops jointly patrolling their disputed borders in Kashmir. |
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