SRINAGAR, July 31 (2001):Separatist guerrillas set off a bomb killing one person while security forces killed five rebels on Tuesday, in the latest incidents in a surge of violence across disputed Kashmir, police said. The blast in the heart of Srinagar, the state's summer capital, killed a civilian and injured eight people, including four soldiers of the paramilitary Border Security Force. Earlier on Tuesday, Indian security forces shot dead five separatist guerrillas in a gunbattle in Poonch, 480 km (300 miles)...

GOIGAM, July 31 (2001): Thousands of villagers attended a funeral on Tuesday of three Muslim rebels killed by Indian securitymen in the restive Himalayan state of Kashmir after they had taken refuge in a mosque, witnesses said. "Allah-o-Akbar (God is great). We want freedom, Indian forces go back," they shouted. The three militants, including Mustafa Khan, a senior commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, were killed on Monday after they took shelter in a mosque in north Kashmir and exchanged fire with Indian security...

SRINAGAR, July 31 (2001): One civilian was killed and eight other people, including four soldiers, were wounded in Kashmir on Tuesday when a bomb planted by suspected rebels exploded in the heart of the region's main city, police said. Four members of the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) were among those wounded in the attack in Bemina in the heart of Srinagar, the state's summer capital. The blast also damaged a BSF vehicle. Earlier, Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged artillery fire in north Kashmir. The...

SRINAGAR, July 27 (2001):Security forces in Kashmir shot dead 12 Muslim rebels in separate gunbattles, security officials said on Friday. They said seven militants were killed on Friday as they were trying to cross into Indian Kashmir from Pakistan. "The latest reports said seven militants were killed by security forces when they were trying to infiltrate to our side in Nowgam sector," a paramilitary spokesman said. He said all seven militants were killed on Friday morning. "Three security force personnel...

SRINAGAR, July 27 (2001):Security forces in restive Kashmir shot dead five Muslim rebels on Friday as they were trying to cross into Indian Kashmir from Pakistan, a paramilitary forces spokesman said. "The Border Security Force and the army in a joint operation killed five militants who were trying to infiltrate to our side in Nowgam sector," the spokesman said. He said the operation started on Thursday night and all five militants were killed on Friday morning. Violence has escalated across the Himalayan region...

SRINAGAR, July 26 (2001): Eight Muslim separatist militants and two Indian security force personnel have been killed in fresh violence in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said Thursday. Two militants and a special police officer died in a fierce encounter Thursday near Patan township, 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital. Two Indian soldiers also sustained injuries during the clash, which broke out in the early hours after Indian troops and police counter-insurgency specialists ringed...

SRINAGAR, July 26 (2001): Authorities in the strife-torn Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir have banned the use of the word "widow" in official records, saying the word added to the women's depression. Kashmiri human rights groups say at least 10,000 women have been widowed in separatist violence since a rebellion broke out in the Himalayan region at end of 1989. "Agreeing with the instructions of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the government has ordered that all government offices use the expression...

SRINAGAR, July 26 (2001): Ten separatist militants two Indian security personnel and a civilian have been killed in fresh violence in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said Thursday. Two militants and a special police officer died in a fierce encounter Thursday near Patan township, 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital. Two Indian soldiers also sustained injuries during the clash, which broke out in the early hours after Indian troops and police counter-insurgency specialists ringed a...

SRINAGAR, July 25 (2001): The Hizbul Mujahideen guerrilla group struck a defiant note on Wednesday after one of its top commanders was killed by police in Indian-controlled Kashmir. A security official said that Abdul Hamid Tantrey - alias Commander Masood - was shot dead by security forces near the Pulwama district of the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday night. He said that a team from the Special Operations Group of the state police led the attack on Masood, whose body was found with a...