India: 4 Kashmir rebel chiefs dead
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India and Pakistan have fought two wars over the disputed region.
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SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) -- Indian troops have shot and killed four guerrilla leaders in disputed Kashmir, authorities said Friday, in what they called major successes for security forces battling a 14-year revolt against the government's rule.
The killings came less than two weeks after nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan region, agreed to begin talks to resolve all outstanding disputes, including Kashmir.
An army spokesman said the operations commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen guerrilla group, Gazi Naseeb-u-Din, also known as Gulam Rasool Dar, was killed in a gunbattle on the outskirts of Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir.
The Hizbul Mujahideen, which is fighting for Muslim-majority Kashmir's merger with Muslim Pakistan, is one of the biggest guerrilla groups in the troubled region.
Naseeb-u-Din was the No. 2 in the group headed by Syed Salahuddin, who is based in Pakistani Kashmir. He led the Hizbul in failed peace talks with the government in July 2000.
Also killed in the shootout was Fayaz Ahmad Dar, or Abid, the group's chief financial and publicity official, said army spokesman Col. Dharam Adhikari.
"The army raided a house after a tip-off," Adhikari told Reuters. "The hiding militants opened fire and in the ensuing encounter Gulam Rasool Dar and Fayaz Ahmad Dar were killed."
Elsewhere, Asif Numan, the deputy chief of another rebel group, Al-badr, was killed in a clash with security forces, police said.
The Pakistan-based Al-badr group is also fighting for Kashmir's merger with Pakistan and is among the more active groups in the region.
Major success
The killing of the two Hizbul leaders was a "major success," the police said in a statement. Security forces had also killed a Hizbul district commander in a separate shootout, police said.
The Hizbul Mujahideen said the killing of Naseeb-u-Din was unfortunate but it would spur on the fight against Indian forces.
"His loss will be felt for a long time. But it is not a setback ... such incidents give new impetus to the freedom movement," rebel spokesman Saleem Hashmi told Reuters in Pakistani Kashmir.
"We will continue our attacks on Indian forces with the same vigor."
Naseeb-u-Din's killing came hours after India's Border Security Force said it killed the Hizbul's third-ranking leader, Abbas Malik alias Abbas Rahim, in a battle on the outskirts of Srinagar Thursday.
Malik, Hizbul's deputy operations chief, was killed and identified late Thursday after a joint operation by the BSF and police, authorities said.
"The slain militant was against the recent peace moves ... and was probably making a nefarious plan to destabilize the ongoing peace process," the BSF said in a statement.
Violence has continued in Kashmir despite the peace moves. Officials say the revolt has claimed more than 40,000 lives.
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