NEW DELHI, Jan 30 (1994): Moslem militants opened fire as Indian Home Minister Shankarrao Chavan landed in the Kashmir city of Doda in a helicopter Sunday, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
Guerrillas hiding in surrounding hilltops opened up with their guns as the minister, accompanied by senior state officers, reached Doda, the news agency said.
Security forces returned fire in a 15-minute gunbattle. There were no casualties and Chavan was reported safe.
No more details were available on the incident.
The federal minister was in Doda, known as a hotbed of Moslem militancy, for a spot assessment of the situation in the hill district, located near the Kashmiri winter capital of Jammu. He flew to Jammu on Friday.
Moslem militants are fighting for an end to Indian rule over Kashmir, the country’s only Moslem-majority state, in a four-year-old campaign that has cost more than 8,000 lives.
