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Five killed in Kashmir mosque siege

SRINAGAR: Two Indian soldiers and three Mujahideen were killed in Kashmir on Sunday in a shootout with separatist guerrillas cornered in a mosque, army officials said.

"During a surge in firing, two militants holed up in the mosque jumped outside and were shot dead," said Colonel M.K. Bawa of the Indian army.

Army officials later said another Mujahid had been killed and the firing had stopped. But the operation to flush out the separatists from the mosque in Chack-dadi village in Kupwara was still going on.

Earlier, Mujahideen killed two Indian soldiers when they fired from inside the mosque.

The army attacked the mosque on Saturday night after receiving information that militants were inside. Three to five were believed to be in the mosque at the time of the attack.

Chack-dadi lies in the Handwara area of Kupwara district, some 87 km (54 miles) northwest of Srinagar.

Hundreds of Indian army soldiers in battle gear are involved in the operation at the hamlet.

There have been very few incidents involving places of worship in the decade-old rebellion in the state.

Elsewhere in the restive state, Indian security forces shot dead two Mujahideen at Kanihama village on the outskirts of Srinagar, police said.

They said Mujahideen also attacked a police station in north Kashmir with automatic weapons, rockets and grenades but there were no casualties.

Nearly a dozen Mujahid groups are fighting New Delhi's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority state.

More than 25,000 people have been killed in separatist violence since 1990 in the Himalayan region.-Reuters