Separatist rebel leader gunned down

Indian government forces killed a top Islamic guerrilla leader during a raid early today on his hide-out in India’s troubled Jammu-Kashmir, police said.

Identified as Shakil Ansari of the Pakistan-based Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen, the largest Kashmiri rebel group, he put up a brief gunfight in Pandachh, a village on the outskirts of Srinagar, according to K. Rajindra, a senior police officer.