Posted on 04/26/2003 6:16:47 PM PDT by miltonim
Five killed in attack on Kashmir TV station
A car bombing and an ensuing gun battle at the offices of the state radio and television service in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed three suspected Islamic militants and two soldiers yesterday. Three paramilitary officers were wounded.
Hours later, at least 10 others were injured in two separate attacks, including an apparent attempt to assassinate Kashmir's finance minister.
Two Pakistan-based Islamic rebel groups claimed responsibility for the car bombing, which took place in the state's summer capital, Srinagar. One of the militants was killed in the explosion, while the two others died in the shootout that followed. A police spokesman said soldiers cordoned off the area and found explosives strapped to the bodies of two of the dead attackers.
Hours after the car bomb explosion, Kashmir's finance minister, Muzaffar Hussain Beig, survived an assassination attempt when a remote-controlled device exploded in Baramulla, about 34 miles north of Srinagar, while he was inaugurating a branch of a government bank. In a third attack, five soldiers were wounded by another remote-controlled bomb in Sumriyal village, close to India's disputed border with Pakistan.
The attacks came a day after a powerful explosion ripped through a courthouse in Kashmir, killing three people and injuring 34, amid a surge in violence. Militant groups based in Pakistan or its portion of Kashmir have been fighting since 1989 to merge the region with Pakistan or make it independent
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