52 wounded in grenade explosions in unusual attack on civilians in Indian-controlled Kashmir

(SRINAGAR, India) - Attackers hurled grenades at a bus stand and marketplace Friday, wounding 52 people in a rare attack on civilian targets in Indian-controlled Kashmir. <br><br>Police blamed Islamic

Friday, March 22nd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(SRINAGAR, India) - Attackers hurled grenades at a bus stand and marketplace Friday, wounding 52 people in a rare attack on civilian targets in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Police blamed Islamic separatists for the attacks, and army officers said three militants were killed in gunbattles in two other places in Kashmir on Friday.

Civilians are killed or wounded in Kashmir mostly when they are caught in cross fire, or a grenade aimed at security forces misses its target, or when Islamic militants kill people they suspect to be police and army informers, a senior paramilitary official in Kashmir said on condition of anonymity.

The civilian casualties in Friday's attacks were the highest since the Oct. 1 bombing of the Jammu-Kashmir state assembly building in Srinagar, in which 38 people were killed and approximately 60 wounded _ mostly civilians. In December, 41 people, mostly civilians, were wounded when grenades thrown at security forces exploded on civilians.

On Friday, attackers threw four or five grenades into a busy market at midmorning, wounding 35 civilians in Shopiyan, about 30 miles south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, said an officer at the state's police control room.

``There were no security forces present. We were going about our daily market routine,'' said Mohammed Shaban, 55, one of the wounded, who was hospitalized in Srinagar.

About five hours later, at least two grenades exploded at a busy bus stand in Anantnag, about 35 miles south of Srinagar, wounding 17 people. They were all civilians except for two paramilitary troopers from the Central Reserve Police Force, said the police control room officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The police officer said Islamic militants fighting to separate Kashmir from India were suspected.

The Indian government says more than 30,000 people have died since a dozen Islamic militant groups began fighting in 1989 to make the Himalayan region of Kashmir independent or join it with Pakistan. Human rights groups say the number killed is more than 60,000.

In a 14-hour gunbattle in Quimoh village, near Anantnag, about 35 miles south of Srinagar, one militant holed up in a house was killed while an accomplice escaped, said Border Security Force spokesman Tirath Acharya.

Paramilitary police attacked a hide-out of Islamic guerrillas in the woods of Badipathri in Kangan, about 25 miles northeast of Srinagar, killing two guerillas while a third escaped, said Col. G.S. Mann, commander of the paramilitary force in Kangan.

He said the man who escaped was a local commander of Tehrik-e-Jihad-e-Islami from Pakistan, and one of the dead was a Pakistani. The other dead man, Mann said, was a member of the Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen, the largest Kashmiri militant group in Jammu-Kashmir.

An Indian army camp came under rocket attack on Friday, but there were no injuries or damage, said Army Maj. Ajay Pal.

Police have said that militant groups have begun joint operations against the Indian security forces.

``Reorganizing groups is perhaps a reaction to the pressure within Pakistan on Islamic militant outfits,'' said R.S. Bhullar, deputy inspector-general of the Border Security Force.

India accuses Pakistan of aiding the Islamic militants who cross the frontier to make attacks. The Pakistan government supports their cause, but denies helping them. In January, the government of Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf began arresting militants, and banned some groups, but in recent weeks, there have been newspaper reports that thousands have been released.