Seven dead in Kashmir rebel attacks

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

In the first attack, militants surrounded the house of a former rebel forced their way in and tried to abduct him, said police official R Jalla.

A gun battle erupted and six people, including the former rebel, were killed.

No casualties were reported among the attackers, Jalla said.

In a separate raid, rebels attacked paramilitary soldiers guarding a bank south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s Jammu-Kashmir state, said Ravindra Kotwal, a police officer.

One soldier was killed and two others were wounded in the fighting, Kotwal said.

At least a dozen Islamic rebel groups have been fighting Indian security forces since December 1989 seeking Kashmir’s independence or its merger with neighbouring Pakistan.

More than 66,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.