Soldier killed by rebels in India-administered Kashmir, army says

Jun 29, 2009, 8:00 GMT

   New Delhi - An Indian soldier was killed by a group of militants from Pakistan along the de-facto border between the two countries in India's Jammu and Kashmir state, a news report said Monday.

   The rebels were trying to infiltrate late Sunday into Indian territory through the Line of Control in the Poonch sector, 500 kilometres south of the state capital Srinagar, the IANS news agency reported, citing an army officer.

   'We have confirmed reports that the firing was from the militants,' a senior Indian Army officer, Brigadier Gurdeep Singh, told the IANS. 'It was not firing from the Pakistani Army.'

   'The area has been cordoned off, and a search is on, but it appears that the infiltrators have escaped back into Pakistan,' Singh said.

   The Line of Control divides the disputed Kashmir region into two parts, one administered by India and the other by Pakistan.

   India has said militants trained and supported by Pakistan regularly infiltrate into its part of Kashmir to launch attacks. Pakistan, however, has denied the charge. It has said the movement is indigenous and has called Kashmiri militants freedom fighters.

   The nuclear-capable South Asian neighbours have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir. More than 40,000 people have been killed in a violent separatist militant movement in India-administered Kashmir since the late 1980s.

   India and Pakistan announced a ceasefire on the borders of the two countries in 2003, but New Delhi has been voicing concern over the ceasefire violations on the border.

   Indian Army officials have claimed 34 incidents of ceasefire violations occurred on the Line of Control last year.