SRINAGAR, Feb 1 (2003): Indian security forces shot dead 13 Muslim rebels in separate gunbattles in India’s part of Kashmir, police said on Saturday.
A police spokesman told Reuters soldiers shot dead six militants on Saturday in a fierce gunbattle southeast of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.
Elsewhere, seven militants were killed in separate gunbattles across the Himalayan region in past 24 hours, police said.
Rebel violence has continued unabated despite the election late last year of a coalition government vowing to bring peace to the disputed region.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training militants in Kashmir and sending them into Kashmir, where tens of thousands of people have died since a rebellion against Indian rule erupted in 1989. Pakistan denies the charge.
Officials say more than 38,000 people have been killed since then. Separatists put the toll at more than 85,000.
