Tuesday, April 22, 2003
SRINAGAR, India (CNN) -- At least 22 people have been killed in Indian Kashmir in a surge of violence on Tuesday just days after India's prime minister called for talks with Pakistan and separatists to try and end the bloodshed over the
disputed state.
In Tuesday's biggest clash, Indian security officials say troops shot dead 13 suspected militants during a fierce gun battle about 255 km (160 miles) north of the winter capital, Jammu.
In another fight, four suspected separatists were killed in another shootout 80km further south. They were killed after apparently crossing into the Rajouri district at the line of control dividing the Pakistani- and Indian-controled sectors of the disputed region.
Also, police are investigating an earlier landmine blast near a crowded cattle-milking pasture in Tral, south of the summer capital, Srinagar, which killed five people and injured 10 others.
Police say militants probably planted the mine.
"It was an improvised explosive device planted near a field and was probably meant to target security forces," a police spokesman told Reuters news agency.
Additionally, nine security officials were wounded when their truck drove over a land mine that authorities believe was also planted by militants.
India says more than 37,000 people have been killed since the violent insurgency began in Indian-controlled Kashmir in 1989.
Vajpayee has hinted as negotiations with arch-rival Pakistan.
Both India and Pakistan claim the Himalayan region -- India's only Muslim-majority state.
The two sides came close to their third war over the disputed territory during a tense 10-month standoff last year.
Both sides say they are open for talks on the issue of Kashmir, which is largely behind the long-standing tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
On Saturday, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee made a conditional offer to negotiate with Pakistan on Kashmir and other key issues dividing the two nuclear-armed rivals.
Vajpayee said India would dispatch a top foreign ministry official to Islamabad to set a schedule for negotiations if Pakistan announces it would no longer support cross-border militancy and shut down guerilla training camps on its soil. (Peace talks)
Pakistan says it is ready for talks but denies there is any cross-border infiltration launched from its territory.
Islamabad says it only gives moral support to the Kashmiri people's right to self-determination.
India has also sent a government negotiator to Kashmir to explore the possibility of talks with separatist groups demanding the province's independence or merger with Pakistan.
Senior Indian officials plan to visit Washington in May, and two U.S. diplomats are to visit India the same month to discuss the issues.
Posted by Chida at April 22, 2003 09:59 AM