SRINAGAR, INDIAN-RULED KASHMIR (Islamweb & Agencies) - Fifteen people including the brother a member of the Indian parliament and 11 Muslim Resistance men have been killed in Kashmir where violence has continued in the run-up to a weekend India-Pakistan summit.Bloody clashes between the Resistance and Indian occupation forces have erupted across the region as Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee prepare for their July 14-16 summit in India.
Disputed Kashmir is expected to be the central issue of the leaders' talks.
Police said the Resistance shot Nazir Ahmad, brother of Abdul Rashid Shaheen, in Pattan township, 16 miles north of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-ruled Jammu and Kashmir.
Shaheen, a leader of Kashmir's ruling National Conference party, is a member of parliament from north Kashmir.
No Resistance group has claimed responsibility for the killing.
In another incident, one woman was killed and six were wounded on Wednesday when Resistance men threw a grenade at a crowded intersection in Srinagar, police said.
Seven civilians were wounded in another grenade attack in Budgam district west of Srinagar.
Police said Indian occupation forces shot dead five Resistance men in separate gunbattles on Wednesday in Kupwara district, 54 miles northwest of Srinagar.
Six Resistance men and two civilians had reported been killed in other shootouts across Indian-ruled Province since Tuesday evening. Four civilians were wounded when the Resistance and Indian soldiers exchanged fire in Doda district.
Nearly a dozen Muslim Resistance groups are fighting New Delhi's rule in Jammu and Kashmir.
Officials say more than 30,000 people have been killed in separatist violence in the region since a armed Resistance broke out at the end of 1989.
In Pakistan, a Kashmiri Resistance group fighting Indian rule demanded on Wednesday the immediate release of two of its members arrested by Indian authorities in New Delhi last week.
The Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami group said if India executed the two men arrested on July 6 the group would retaliate by launching attacks in Indian cities.
Indian authorities said the two men were arrested at a bus station in New Delhi with 4.2-pound of high explosives.
Kashmiris denied the two had any explosives or weapons or that they intended to disrupt the Musharraf's visit to India.
PHOTO CAPTIO:
A police inspector briefs his men before partrolling outside the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, Wednesday, July 11, 2001. Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will visit Agra on July 15 and16 to hold talks to try to resolve the five-decade-long dispute over Kashmir. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
15 Killed in Kashmir Ahead of Agra Summit
- Author: Islamweb & Agencies
- Publish date:02/04/2001
- Section:WORLD HEADLINES