Fourteen Killed, In Indian-Ruled Kashmir, 7 on the Pakistani Side of the Disputed Province

Fourteen Killed, In Indian-Ruled Kashmir, 7 on the Pakistani Side of the Disputed Province
HIGHLIGHTS: Attacks in Indian-Rule Kashmir Come Less than a Week after Latest Raid|| Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Claims Responsibility||In Pakistani-Ruled Kashmir, Prime Minister Accuses Indian Army of Targeting Civilians||STORY: Fourteen people, including eight security force personnel, were killed and 17 injured in fresh Kahmiri Resistance attacks in India's restless Kashmir region, Indian police said Sunday.

They said four soldiers were killed and seven wounded when armed Kashmiri nationalists fired rocket-propelled grenades at a security post in the disputed region Sunday.

The attack came less than a week after a raid by suspected Pakistan-based Resistance groups on an army camp in Kashmir killed 31 people. The three attackers were also killed.

That attack stoked tensions between India and Pakistan, which have massed a million troops on both sides of their border since a mid-December attack on India's parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based Muslim militants.

Saturday, New Delhi expelled Islamabad's envoy in protest against what it said was Pakistan's failure to crack down on Muslim militants operating in Kashmir, at the center of a tense five-month military standoff.

One nationalist fighter was killed in the latest attack, which took place early Sunday in Udhampur district of southern Kashmir.

Earlier, Saturday night, four Indian security personnel were killed in two separate Resistance attacks in Doda and Baramulla districts of the state, Indian police said.

Kashmir's frontline Resistance group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the string of attacks.

Hizb-ul-Mujahideen is fighting for Kashmir's merger with neighboring Pakistan.

Elsewhere across the troubled region, three Resistance men and two civilians were killed in separate shootouts.

Ten people were also hurt in these incidents.

The separatists regularly attack security posts and patrols in Kashmir where more than a dozen Resistance groups are fighting Indian rule in the Himalayan region.

Officials say more than 33,000 people have died so far in the insurgency that began in late 1989.

7 KILLED IN PAKISTANI-RULED KASHMIR

In Pakistan-ruled Kashmir, the prime minister of Pakistani Kashmir Sunday accused the Indian army of targeting civilians as the death toll from artillery duels rose to seven, with 41 injured. (Read photo caption)

The military said in a statement that more than 20 villages were affected by the heavy Indian shelling which continued into its third day, across the border of the disputed territory as well as Kashmir's boundary with Pakistan. The military also said that India's unprovoked firing caused heavy damage to civilian property and many houses were destroyed in the barrage by medium-size and field artillery mortars and direct firing weapons.

PHOTO CAPTION

Children stand outside their house Sunday, May 19, 2002, after it was damaged by heavy shelling by Indian forces Saturday night in the Chakothi sector, near the border with India, 58 kilometers (35 miles) southeast of Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. Fierce gunfire across the India-Pakistan border and attacks by militants killed at least 15 people in disputed Kashmir over the weekend, as India considered on Sunday whether to take further military action against its rival.(AP Photos/Roshan Mughal)

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