Militants Die as Siege Ends in Kashmir, AFP, 7 January 2010
EXCERPT: "Commandos stormed a hotel in Indian Kashmir on Thursday where two militants had been holed up for nearly 24 hours, killing the gunmen and bringing an end to the siege. The four-storey hotel in Srinagar, the summer capital of the volatile Himalayan region, was on fire before police announced both the pro-Pakistan extremists had been killed in a morning assault by security forces. The gunmen -- one a Pakistani and the other an Indian Kashmiri, according to police -- had taken refuge in the hotel on Wednesday after throwing grenades and opening fire in Srinagar's main market area. One police officer was killed in the attack and one bystander succumbed to his injuries Thursday. 'The operation as far as we are concerned is over,' Kuldeep Khuda, the state police chief, told reporters at the scene. The Indian-administered section of Muslim-majority Kashmir has been wracked by a separatist and anti-India insurgency for two decades, though violence has fallen in recent years. Divided into Indian and Pakistani-controlled zones, Kashmir has been the trigger for two wars between the South Asian rivals since their independence from Britain in 1947. A pro-Pakistan militant group, Jamiat-ul-Mujahedin, claimed it was behind the assault, which left five police and four civilians injured. Police pointed the finger at the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)."
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Related articles:
Plans for more attacks unearthed, The Hindu, 8 January 2010
Kashmir gunbattle underscores India-Pakistan tensions [blog], Pakistan: Now or Never? Perspectives on Pakistan // Reuters, 7 January 2010
Terrorists were in touch with Pakistani handlers, Daily News and Analysis, 5 January, 2010
Professional stoners make their mark, The National, 27 December 2009
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Conflict-weary Kashmir marks 20 years of insurgency, 16 December 2009
Kashmir conflict "unfinished business", 10 December 2009
India ready to withdraw troops from Kashmir, 3 December 2009
2,600 bodies found in Kashmir mass graves: Report, 2 December 2009
