Kashmir Violence Leaves 9 Dead, 30 Hurt

Gun battles, a grenade attack and other violence Thursday in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir killed at least nine people--including three soldiers and two policemen--and wounded about 30, police said.

The soldiers were killed when guerrillas attacked their army vehicle in Chandanwari, 70 miles south of Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, army officials said.

Suspected Islamic militants opened fire on a police car in the Srinagar suburb of Soura, where the police were conducting a routine inspection of vehicles. Two officers were killed in the gunfire, which injured another officer and two civilians.

On the outskirts of Anantnag, 35 miles south of Srinagar, three suspected militants were killed in a gun battle with paramilitary soldiers that left two of the soldiers wounded, police said.

In another skirmish, a militant was killed by Border Security Force soldiers in Pulwama, a security force spokesman said.

Also, suspected Islamic militants hurled a grenade into a crowded market in Anantnag. The explosion injured 20 civilians and five paramilitary soldiers, a local police officer said.

Meanwhile, in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, a bomb exploded on a train, wounding at least 11 people, officials said. The explosion took place in a passenger car as the train neared the station of Chandrapura, 25 miles north of Ranchi, the state capital.

More than a dozen Muslim guerrilla groups have been fighting since 1989 for the independence of Kashmir or the merger of its Indian-controlled portion with Islamic Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir is the only Muslim-majority state in mostly Hindu India.

Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said Thursday that hundreds of thousands of troops would remain posted along the border with Pakistan for at least four more months.

“We cannot withdraw the forces until elections in Jammu and Kashmir are over, and after that the decision depends on the situation,” Fernandes said.