Nearly 200 supporters of an Islamic separatist group in Indian-controlled Kashmir burned effigies of Salman Rushdie today, and marched to protest against Britain’s knighthood award to the Indian-born novelist.

At least 15 people were killed when a minibus rolled down a mountainous road into a river in India’s Jammu-Kashmir state today.

Thousands of security personnel were deployed throughout India to prevent any militant attacks during national day celebrations today as millions of people, including Russia’s president, watched a military parade in the capital.

Indian government forces raided a hideout of suspected Islamic militants in the Indian part of Kashmir today, sparking a gunbattle which left two soldiers and one rebel dead.

Pakistan will continue to support Kashmiris in their struggle for independence from Indian rule, but is striving for peace in their divided Himalayan region, Pakistan’s prime minister said today.

Clashes between Indian government forces and suspected Islamic separatist militants have killed nine people in India’s Jammu-Kashmir state.

At least 10 children drowned today when a boat capsized on a Kashmiri lake.

Five people were killed and at least 30 injured in a series of grenade attacks by suspected separatist rebels in Kashmir’s capital Srinagar today.

Schools across northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state were ordered shut today as icy winds and bitter cold claimed eight more lives overnight, bringing the total from a spell of frigid weather to 131, officials said.

A suspected car bomb exploded today in the main business district of Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s Jammu-Kashmir state, injuring scores of people, witnesses said.

Indian police have arrested an alleged Kashmiri militant whom they believe planned the October 29 triple bombings in New Delhi and are now hunting for seven others including the bombers, an official said in New Delhi today.

Indian investigators have made their first breakthrough in the investigation into the October 29 New Delhi bombings, linking the attacks to Kashmiri rebel groups, intelligence officials said today.

India handed tents for earthquake victims to Pakistan today at a much-heralded opening of their disputed Kashmir border – a mostly symbolic act of cooperation after the region’s huge October 8 quake.

A suicide car bomb exploded on the outskirts of Indian Kashmir’s main city of Srinigar today, killing two policeman and three passers-by and wounding a dozen more people, police and hospital officials said.

A little-known group that police say has ties to Pakistan-based militants fighting in divided Kashmir took credit for three blasts that killed 59 people in New Delhi, but Indian officials appeared hesitant to immediately blame anyone on the Pakistani side of the frontier.

PAKISTANI and US military helicopters delivered aid at a brisk pace to the earthquake-stricken region of Kashmir yesterday.

Air force helicopters today resumed drops of urgently-needed relief supplies to the survivors of the weekend earthquake in inaccessible areas of Indian Kashmir, after nearly 12 hours of disruption caused by torrential rains and snow.

THE death toll in India passed 600 last night after rescue workers and soldiers pulled out 90 more bodies in the frontier Tangdar region, 65 miles north of Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s Jammu-Kashmir state.

Angry villagers briefly blocked roads today in earthquake-ravaged regions of Indian-controlled Kashmir, protesting at the slow pace of rescue and aid efforts in reaching their destroyed homes.

More than 3,000 people died today when a massive earthquake triggered landslides, toppled an apartment building and flattened villages of mud-brick homes near the border between Pakistan and India.

Today’s powerful earthquake in southern Asia killed at least 250 people across Indian Kashmir, a senior state official said in the Himalayan region.

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake jolted south Asia today, killing at least 21 people and injuring hundreds of others in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.

Dozens of people are feared dead after a major earthquake struck parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan and northern India.

A passenger bus veered out of control and plunged down a mountain road today, killing at least 22 people and injuring 27 others, police said.

At least 10 people were killed when their homes collapsed and another eight were missing after being swept away by floodwaters in northern India, bring the death toll from annual monsoon rains to at least 239, government officials said today.

A BOMB exploded in a bustling town in Indian-controlled Kashmir yesterday, killing 15 people, including the suspected attacker, and injuring at least 60 others, police said.

Two powerful land mines exploded in a crowded residential area in the Indian portion of Kashmir today, killing six people and wounding 40 others, a paramilitary officer said.

Avalanches and extreme cold in India’s portion of Kashmir have killed 168 people and left at least 212 others missing.

An avalanche killed at least 24 people early today when it struck a tiny mountain village in India’s portion of Kashmir while most of its residents slept, sweeping away dozens of houses and leaving scores of people missing, officials said.

At least 27 people were killed when an overloaded bus skidded off a mountain road in India’s Jammu-Kashmir state today, police said.

Militants stormed a government building in Indian-controlled Kashmir today, setting it on fire with 70 staff trapped inside, police said.

HUNDREDS of villagers in India’s portion of Kashmir demonstrated today to protest the alleged rape of a woman by a soldier during a search operation.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh headed to India’s portion of disputed Kashmir today for the start of a partial troop withdrawal hailed by rival Pakistan as an important step toward easing tensions over the Himalayan region.

At least seven people killed today in two separate attacks by Islamic militants in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir.

Police in Jammu-Kashmir today said that 1,716 civilians, members of security forces and militants had died there in fighting in the first 10 months of this year – 13% fewer than in 2003.

A BOMB exploded during an Independence Day parade in India's remote northeast yesterday killing at least 15 people, including schoolchildren.

A bomb exploded during an Independence Day parade in India’s remote northeast today, killing at least 15 people, mostly children, just an hour after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged to fight terrorism.

Mudslides triggered by heavy rains killed 14 workers sleeping in a tin shed near a Hindu shrine in northern Indian today as the death toll from the monsoon season across South Asia rose to at least 1,908.

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan were hoping to ease visa restrictions and increase cross-border visits as senior officials met today in an effort to reduce decades of enmity between the two neighbours.

A key minister in the Indian section of Kashmir survived a second assassination attempt today when a bomb exploded at a public rally, killing five people and wounding at least 50 others.

A crowded bus skidded off a mountain road and fell into a gorge in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir today, killing 19 passengers and injuring 40 others, doctors said.

Pakistan and India agreed today to hold a series of talks in coming weeks on issues including a dam being constructed in India’s portion of Kashmir that Pakistan says threatens the water supply on its side of the disputed border.

Guerillas chopped off the ears, nose and tongue of a teenage girl they suspected of helping police today, while other violence in Indian-controlled Kashmir left at least eight people dead, police said.

A land mine exploded near a political rally in Indian-controlled Kashmir today, killing six police officers and wounding eight other people, police said.