JAMMU, Feb 10 (2001) – Fifteen people were burned to death when their houses caught fire during an attack by militants on a village in India’s strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir state early on Saturday, a senior official said.
The militants fled after firing indiscriminately into the village of Kotcherwal in Rajouri, 175 km (110 miles) north of Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir state.
“We have sent our teams (reinforcements) to the spot and details are still awaited,” the official said.
The state government has armed village defence committees to help security forces combat militants in rural areas of the state, and five of the dead were members of the village committee.
Muslim separatists took up arms against Indian rule in Kashmir 11 years ago, since when more than 30,000 people have died violently in the mountainous state.
India declared a ceasefire on November 28 last year, but the violence has continued.
In separate incidents on Saturday, three militants of the Lashkar-e-Islami group were killed in a shootout with security forces in Poonch district, 260 km north of Jammu, and security forces shot dead two members of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen group in Anantnag district, officials said.
Twelve people including eight soldiers were wounded when separatist guerrillas lobbed a grenade at a security patrol at Awantipora township in south Kashmir, police said.
