NEW DELHI: At least 33 people, including 10 women and children, died when Muslim insurgents launched a suicide raid on an Indian military camp in Kashmir after attacking a civilian bus at dawn yesterday.
Police said 14 of the 48 injured had been admitted to hospital in a serious condition. Military officers said the three militants were killed after a four-hour gun fight inside the well-guarded Kaluchak cantonment, which houses family blocks, workshops and supply depots.
Two little known factions, Al-Mansoorain and the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, claimed responsibility for the attack. Security officials said Al-Mansoorian is closely linked to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba - the fiercest of 10 groups fighting Kashmir's 13-year civil war.
Yesterday's strike, the deadliest in the state since its legislature was attacked by a suicide bomber last October, came hours after US Assistant Secretary of State Ms Christina Rocca arrived in New Delhi to try to ease growing tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, which is shared between the two countries but claimed by both.
More than a million soldiers face each other across their common frontier since last December's suicide attack on the Indian parliament, which New Delhi blames on Islamabad.
Five Islamic rebels and an Indian policeman were killed in violence separate yesterday.