4 Dead After 20-Hour Gun Battle in Kashmir

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Source: NYT

NEW DELHI — A 20-hour gun battle prompted by a deadly militant attack on a police outpost in Kashmir’s summer capital ended Thursday at a hotel after the police killed two militants, including one Pakistani national, Indian police officials said.

Militants opened fire Wednesday afternoon on security forces in the middle of a busy market at the center of Srinagar, on the Indian side of the border. One policeman and a civilian were killed, and 10 people were wounded in what officials said was the first such militant attack in two years.

“In this operation just two terrorists are killed, but we are trying to ascertain whether any more terrorists are inside the building” said Kuldeep Khoda, the police chief of Jammu and Kashmir. Mr. Khoda also said that both militants belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terrorist organization based in Pakistan that has been blamed for the attacks on Mumbai, India, in November 2008.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan. The countries have gone to war over the region, and separatists have also called for it to become independent.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/world/asia/08kashmir.html