INDIA: Islamic militants hurled grenades and fired assault rifles into a ruling Congress Party rally in Indian-administered Kashmir state yesterday, killing at least seven people, including two policemen, and injuring another 22. The attack occurred ahead of peace talks in the war-torn region due to begin later this week.
Officials said the attackers, dressed as policemen, were killed in the ensuing firefight with the police inside a large park in the disputed principality's summer capital, Srinagar, where about 3,000 people had gathered to observe the 15th anniversary of the death of former Congress Party prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Police said the Al Mansoorian and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba groups, fighting against New Delhi's rule in Kashmir, claimed responsibility for the "suicide attack" in a call to the local Current News Service.
Along with several others, the two Muslim militant groups are opposed to Wednesday's talks between prime minister Manmohan Singh and pro-Indian Kashmiri politicians who eschew violence and favour a negotiated settlement to the nearly 60-year old dispute in the Himalayan state.
They are also against the ongoing peace process between India and neighbouring Pakistan, which controls parts of Kashmir but claims it in its entirety.
A federal home ministry spokesman in Delhi, however, said the Srinagar talks would continue. "Such incidents will not hamper them," adding that security would be "severely tightened".
Armed Muslim separatist groups have fought Indian rule in Kashmir since 1989 in a struggle that has claimed more than 60,000 lives. India blames Pakistan for fuelling the insurgency, a claim it denies.
In a related development, Indian and Pakistani officials are meeting in Delhi tomorrow to negotiate a tense stand-off on the Siachen Glacier in northern Kashmir where the two rivals have waged a struggle for control over a frozen wasteland, often referred to as the world's highest battlefield, where more soldiers have died of cold than in artillery duels.