Hizb commander among 5 killed in Kashmir

SRINAGAR: A top militant and a young Muslim girl were among five people killed in revolt-hit held Kashmir on Monday, a police spokesman said.

Showket Ali, the divisional commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, was shot dead by Indian troops Monday in the southern district of Doda, a police spokesman said. “(Ali’s) killing is a major setback to Hizbul,” he said.

The killing comes three days after the Hizbul claimed responsibility for a roadside car-bomb blast in Srinagar that killed nine Indian soldiers and injured more than 12 others. Elsewhere in Kashmir’s Anantnag district, a policeman and a militant were killed in two separate clashes on Monday, police said. Suspected militants also shot dead a Muslim woman and a young girl in two separate attacks in the districts of Kupwara and Doda late Sunday.

The fresh killings came on the day when Indian police said more than 44,000 people had died in Indian Kashmir since the eruption of an anti-India insurgency in the Himalayan state in 1989. Violence has continued in the region despite an 18-month-old peace process between India and Pakistan which aims to resolve all issues including Kashmir. afp

Home | National