Death toll in Kashmir rises

Police now believe more than 29 people have been killed in Kashmir after Islamic rebels attacked an Indian army base near the province’s winter capital, Jammu.

The attack began when three suspected militants, wearing army uniforms, stepped off a bus outside the camp in Kaluchak and opened fire on soldiers.

Seven passengers were killed in the ensuing gun battle before the militants entered the camp and killed 20 soldiers and their family members. The three attackers were also killed.

The gunmen had boarded the bus at Vijaipur, six miles south of India’s border with Pakistan. India currently controls around two-thirds of Kashmir and Pakistan the other one-third.

The two countries have already fought two wars over the largely Muslim province and, in 1989, around a dozen Islamic militant groups began a separate fight for independence.

A news agency in Kashmir said it received two phone calls claiming responsibility for the attack, but neither claim is thought to be credible.