Attacks In Kashmir, 2 Policemen killed

SRINAGAR: At least two policemen were killed in separate attacks by suspected militants in Indian-occupied Kashmir’s main city on Saturday, police and witnesses said.

No rebel group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the first after months of calm in Srinagar, Kashmir’s summer capital.

“Policemen were writhing in their own pools of blood after I heard a brief gunfire,” Mohammad Sidiq, a witness, said.

Police said people ran for cover in two crowded areas in the heart of Srinagar where the attacks occurred.

Analysts see Saturday’s attack as a grim reminder that militancy has not disappeared completely in Kashmir, where officials say tens of thousands of people have been killed since a revolt against Indian rule broke out in 1989.

But separatist violence in Kashmir has fallen sharply since India and Pakistan, which claim the disputed Himalayan region in full but rule it in part, began a peace process in 2004. India stalled that initiative after last November’s Mumbai attack.

Indian security officials say Pakistan is still arming, training and sending militants to Kashmir. New Delhi said the Mumbai attack was carried out by Pakistan-based militants who must have had support from some official Pakistani agencies.

Pakistan is carrying out its own investigation into the Mumbai attack and has arrested five people India say are among the main planners of the carnage. At least 166 people were killed when 10 gunmen, who India says were Pakistani nationals, carried out the three-day long attack.