Kashmir clashes leaves 16 dead

Sixteen people have been killed in a day of continued violence in different parts of Kashmir.

Indian security forces killed three militants in a shoot-out in Chowkibal, 80 miles north of Srinagar.

Another guerrilla was killed in Watlab, 45 miles north of Srinagar, while two paramilitary force troops were killed in Surankhote.

Five militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a Pakistan-based militant organisation, were killed during a gun battle with army troops in Mandi, a border town 200 miles southeast of Srinagar.

Another three militants were killed in nearby Buffliaz, while two civilians were killed when they were caught in the crossfire between security forces and the militants, police said.

The army and police have stepped up search operations along the border to check the infiltration of militants from across the border in Pakistan.

Police decided to offer a safe passage to militants hiding in a mosque in Karwara, a remote village 35 miles south of Srinagar.

A day earlier, they had killed one soldier and a policeman before holing up in the mosque.

Local government officials decided against a sustained operation on the shrine, and lifted a security cordon around the mosque, allowing the militants to escape under cover of darkness, said a senior police official.