Temple raid deaths cap weekend of violence in Indian Kashmir

JAMMU - Security forces ended a siege by suspected Muslim militants of two Hindu temples in Indian Kashmir yesterday after the bloodiest weekend since a new Government took power in the state on a peace ticket.

Police said the siege, during which 13 people died, ended when a lone surviving militant who had taken refuge in a house near the temples was shot dead after what appeared to be a last-ditch bid to escape.

Police chief AK Suri said a caller claiming to be from the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba had telephoned him claiming responsibility for the raid and threatening more attacks.

"He said there will be more attacks in future," Suri said.

Security forces earlier killed another militant following the attack on the 150-year-old Raghunath temple complex and the Rupyawali temple nearby in Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir state.

Suri said nine civilians, one soldier and one policeman, along with the two militants, had been killed in the raids on the temples and 52 people were injured.

The raid was one of a flurry of attacks since Saturday in which more than 40 people died, including 12 people in a bus blown up by a landmine.

The bloodshed signalled the end of any honeymoon for the state's new Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Syed, who came to power after a drawn-out election in September and October toppled the family dynasty through which India traditionally ruled the state. Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani was quick to blame Syed's softer line on militancy for the raids.

Two pro-Pakistan groups - the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat-e-Jehad Islami - claimed responsibility for the weekend mine blast that killed six soldiers and six civilians.

"It was a response to Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Syed's assertion that militancy was on its last legs," the two groups said in a Kashmir newspaper.

Syed has freed leading political prisoners as part of efforts to open wide-ranging peace talks. Although still pro-Delhi, his new coalition has raised hopes for a change after the state poll ended decades of hardline pro-Indian rule.

Ghanshyam Shah, professor of political studies at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, said he thought Syed would continue with his policies despite the temple raids.

"He has a belief that you cannot resolve the Kashmir problem if you take a tough negative line. His aim will still be to establish peace."

- REUTERS

Herald feature: The Kashmir conflict