SRINAGAR, May 25 (2008): Thousands of Kashmiris, more accustomed to the rattle of gunfire than guitar power chords, screamed, clapped and danced on Sunday to the first Pakistani band to play in the region for at least two decades. Junoon played outdoors amid tight security on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir. "Welcome, Kashmir, to the Sufi peace concert," said Salman Ahmed, the band's lead singer. Junoon, which means obsession in Urdu, belts out rock tunes inspired by Sufism,...

SRINAGAR, May 14 (2008): The Indian army accused Pakistan on Wednesday of violating a ceasefire by firing across a military control line that divides Kashmir between the two countries. But Pakistan denied that any firing had taken place. The reported firing comes days after an incident last Friday when New Delhi said its soldiers came under heavy cross-border fire while trying to stop a group of militants from sneaking into its part of Kashmir. It was this year's worst border incident. India and Pakistan came to...

JAMMU, May 11 (2008): Four people, including a photojournalist and army jawan, were killed and as many wounded in an ongoing encounter between militants and security forces at Kaili Mandi in Samba district in Jammu and Kashmir today. The encounter has raised a question on the BSF's claim to have foiled a ''major infiltration bid'' from the International Border nearby, in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday night. Ashok Sodhi, a chief photographer of the Daily Excelsior, a Jammu-based leading english newspaper of Jammu and...

JAMMU, May 1 (2008): At least 20 road workers were feared dead after a landslide smashed into trucks transporting them in Indian Kashmir on Thursday, officials said. "Two or three trucks carrying an unspecified number of road workers ... came under a massive landslide," Riyaz Ahmed Zargar, a district magistrate in Kishtwar, told reporters. "So far six bodies have been recovered." The magistrate said officials believed around 28 workers were caught in the landslide. Several had been rescued. (For complete story...