SRINAGAR, India, 11 September 2005 — Eleven people, five of them soldiers, were killed in separate attacks by armed militants days after moderate separatist leaders held historic talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi.
A group of heavily armed militants yesterday morning ambushed an army convoy in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, killing five soldiers and wounding four others.
Those injured in the ambush on the strategic Srinagar-Jammu national highway near Awantipora town, 40 km from here, were taken to hospital.
The militants first threw two grenades at the army convoy, which was going from Srinagar to Jammu, and later opened automatic gunfire.
Three soldiers were killed instantly while six troopers were injured three of them critically. Two of the injured succumbed to their injuries in a nearby security force hospital where they had been taken for specialized treatment.
The militants later moved into a residential area in Awantipora town and started firing at troop reinforcements that had them encircled. After an hour-long heavy exchange of fire between the troops and the holed up militants, the rebels escaped.
Traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, which is the lifeline for the Kashmir Valley with the outside world, remained suspended for nearly two hours.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group claimed responsibility for the attack. A Lashkar spokesman telephoned newspaper offices in Srinagar, saying a four-member squad of the group had carried out the attack.
The attack came hours after militants attacked a mountain village, killing six people and wounding eight others.
The rebels raided the village of Darmarhi on Friday night, opening fire on the family of two policemen who were sleeping at the time, said a police officer in Jammu.
The hail of bullets lasted nearly 15 minutes and left six family members dead, including an infant and a 4-year-old child, said the officer, who did not want to be named because he is not authorized to speak to journalists. Eight others were wounded.
The attackers fled the village after the assault, he said, blaming it on separatist militants. Militants often attack civilians, suspecting them of being police informers.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack in Darmarhi, about 150 km north of Jammu. The attacks came two days after two militants attacked guards near the rear entrance of the civil secretariat in Srinagar. Both militants and a member of the special operations group (SOG) of the local police were killed in that attack.
— Additional input from agencies
