Three militants killed in Held Kashmir

* Vohra to visit Valley again this month

SRINAGAR: Indian troops on Sunday shot dead three militants during a shootout in Held Kashmir, a police spokesman said.

He said the shootout erupted in Chewdara in the central Budgam district early Sunday when soldiers of the Indian army’s counter insurgency wing Rashtriya (National) Rifles laid siege to the village. “The militants present in the village opened fire to escape, which was retaliated by the soldiers,” the spokesman said. He said the encounter lasted for four hours and ended with the death of three militants. “We are trying to ascertain their identity,” the spokesman said.

India’s new negotiator on Kashmir said on Sunday he was planning another visit to the troubled Himalayan region after separatists refused to talk to him on his last trip.

NN Vohra, a 66-year-old retired bureaucrat, was appointed as the pointman on Kashmir by New Delhi in February and authorised to initiate talks with elected representatives and other sectors of Kashmiri society. On Sunday Vohra told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency that he would be visiting the Jammu, Leh and Kargil regions of Kashmir later this month. Vohra said he would talk to leaders and representatives of political parties, social organisations and “all those interested to meet” him during his upcoming visit.

The envoy said he had already briefed PM Vajpayee, Deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani and Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha on his visit to Srinagar. —AFP

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