Srinagar - Twenty-eight people, including five Indian security men and 19 guerrillas, were killed in gun battles in Kashmir as a European Union team met separatists and officials, the Indian authorities said yesterday. The deaths since Monday evening marked an escalation in violence in the Himalayan region, where more than 30,000 people have died in violence linked to a separatist rebellion since 1990.
India controls 45 per cent of Kashmir. Pakistan rules over a third of Kashmir and China the rest. Indian officials told the EU delegation about "Pakistan's design".