Kashmir violence ahead of PM visit
From Ram Ramgopal CNN Correspondent
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Kashmiri medical personnel move an injured civilian to a bed in a Srinagar hospital.
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SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir (CNN) -- Indian authorities have reported heavy shelling from Pakistani positions across the Line of Control, the de facto international border that divides the disputed region of Kashmir.
Police in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday said an elderly man in Kargil town was killed in the shelling and four school-children were injured.
Shopkeepers are reported to have fled their businesses in Kargil, which lies on the Line of Control.
In another incident, police said suspected separatist militants ambushed an Indian army patrol in the town of Sopore in central Kashmir. Eight army soldiers were wounded in the attack.
And in the town of Magam, also in central Kashmir, a blast killed one policeman and injured 13 others, including an Indian security official. Police said the blast was caused by an "improvised explosive device" planted under a bridge.
The stepped up violence came on the eve of a two-day visit to Kashmir by India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
The prime minister will be in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday and Saturday on a mission to promote development in the mountainous state.
The leading separatist alliance in Kashmir, the Hurriyat Conference, has called for a general strike to coincide with Vajpayee's visit. The Hurriyat says the strike is aimed at drawing attention to the Kashmir problem.
