Separatist Violence in Kashmir Kills 15

Fifteen people have been killed in separatist violence in India’s troubled northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, police said. Seven people were killed and 26 seriously injured when a bomb exploded near a bridge on the outskirts of Rajauri, north of Jammu, the state’s winter capital. The area was immediately cordoned off, and search operations were launched for suspected militants. Police said unidentified militants shot dead four members of a family in the village of Panzala, north of Srinagar, the state’s summer capital. It was also reported that Indian paramilitary troops killed four separatist guerrillas in a gun battle in the Rajauri area. Militant groups are fighting Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state.