10 Indian Soldiers Killed by Separatists, Army Says
Heavily armed men attacked Indian soldiers in the disputed territory of Kashmir on Sunday, killing at least 10 and wounding 28 others, an army spokesman said. Two civilians and two attackers also were killed.
Two gunmen dressed as peanut vendors approached the soldiers, hurled grenades and opened fire while other assailants fired from nearby hilltops, said the spokesman, Col. A.K. Singh. The soldiers returned fire.
The attack occurred in Ramban, a small township 105 miles north of Jammu, the winter capital of India’s Jammu and Kashmir state. Helicopters flew 26 of the 28 wounded soldiers to a nearby army hospital after the attack, Singh said.
Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani-based militant group fighting for Kashmir’s independence from India, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Indian officials say that more than 30,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of the insurgency by Islamic militants in 1989. Human rights groups place the number at more than 60,000.
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