JAMMU, May 31 (2002): An Indian paramilitary soldier was killed on Friday as Indian and Pakistani forces traded fire in disputed Kashmir, an Indian defence official said. He said the Border Security Force (BSF) soldier was killed and five security men were wounded in heavy Pakistani firing with mortars and heavy machineguns on the international border in the R.S. Pura sector, 30 km (19 miles) southwest of Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir state. The shooting came after U.S. President George W. Bush...

SRINAGAR, May 31 (2002): The chief of Kashmir's main separatist political alliance said on Friday India would be responsible if a war erupted between it and Pakistan over the disputed Himalayan region. Tension between the South Asian rivals have been running high since a deadly raid on an army camp in Kashmir this month that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatists, stoking fears of a fourth war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. With both sides exchanging daily fire across their frontier, the...

SINGAPORE, May 31 (2002): Defence Minister George Fernandes said on Friday there was no immediate cause for concern in the tense standoff with Pakistan, as nearly a million soldiers mass on the borders of the nuclear-armed neighbours. The South Asian nations, which have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, have massed nearly a million soldiers on their borders since a raid on India's parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Both sides again exchanged artillery and mortar fire...

JAMMU, May 31 (2002): Indian and Pakistani forces fired mortars and artillery across their ceasefire line in disputed Kashmir on Friday as international pressure mounted on the nuclear neighbours to avert war. The shooting came after U.S. President George W. Bush decided to send Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to both nations next week to ease tensions stoked by a May 14 raid on an army camp in Indian Kashmir. New Delhi blamed Pakistan-based militants for that attack. "Until four in the morning, there were heavy...

JAMMU, May 30 (2002): Two militants stormed an Indian police camp in Kashmir, killing three policemen and wounding several others before being trapped by security forces, police said on Thursday. The latest attack comes two weeks after three men India says were Pakistan-based Islamic militants attacked an army camp in Kashmir, killing 31 soldiers and their families before being killed. Analysts had warned another major militant raid could spark war. In the latest incident, rebels, now holed up in the camp canteen, and...

MUZAFFARABAD, May 29 (2002): Indian cross-border shelling killed 13 people and wounded at least 22 in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir overnight and on Wednesday, Pakistani officials and residents said. Artillery and mortar fire across the tense borders persist as Britain, the United States, Russia and Japan make intense diplomatic efforts to pull the two nuclear-armed neighbours back from the brink of a fourth war. Indian mortar fire killed seven people in the Hajira sector of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir late...

JAMMU, May 29 (2002): Four people, including an Indian soldier, were killed and 30 others injured in heavy shelling by Pakistani troops in the Poonch region of Indian-controlled Kashmir Wednesday, an Indian defence spokesman said. Hospital sources said six of the injured were in critical condition. "Of the six, three are children," a spokesman said. The defence spokesman said early evening the shelling was continuing in the Poonch region, some 240 kilometres (150 miles) to the west of Kashmir's winter capital...

SRINAGAR, May 29 (2002):A journalist in Indian- administered Kashmir was shot and seriously wounded Wednesday when gunmen barged into his newspaper's office, police said. Zafar Iqbal, a reporter for the English-language daily Kashmir Images, was shot by three undentified youths who entered the third- floor office in the summer capital Srinagar at around 3:25 am (2155 GMT Tuesday), police said, quoting witnesses. Iqbal was profusely bleeding and taken to Srinagar's main hospital, where his weeping colleagues held vigil...

SRINAGAR, May 28 (2002): A Kashmiri separatist group on Tuesday urged India and Pakistan to resume dialogue over the disputed Himalayan region at the heart of their hostility and avert a nuclear conflict. India and Pakistan have massed nearly a million troops on their border in a tense standoff over the Himalayan region of Kashmir. "We appeal to leaders of India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and start a meaningful dialogue over Kashmir to avoid a nuclear conflict in the region," the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front...

JAMMU, May 28 (2002): The heavily militarised borders between India and Pakistan remained calm after two weeks of intense shelling following Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's pledge not to initiate a war, police said Tuesday. "There is calm on the borders after the speech," said Amjed Mirza, a senior police official of border district Kathura, 85 kilometers (52 miles) south of Kashmir's winter capital Jammu,. "Though there is some light firing, the intensity of shelling has reduced considerably compared to the...