Violence continued in the disputed state of Kashmir overnight with police reporting that 10 Muslim civilians were gunned down by suspected Islamic militants in two separate overnight attacks.
The attacks coincide with the visit of US Deputy Secretary of
State Richard Armitage to India and Pakistan in a fresh bid to broker peace between the two nuclear rivals.
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Indian Defence Minister Mr George Fernandes shakes hands with visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Mr Richard Armitage in New Delhi yesterday Photo: Reuters
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Speaking after meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for more than one hour this afternoon, Mr Armitage said he accepted assurances that Pakistan was sincere in its promise to end the infiltration by Islamic militants.
"There is some obvious infiltration across the Line of Control, but our friends here assure me that this is not being sponsored by the government of Pakistan," Mr Armitage said.
In the overnight militant violence, according to a police spokesman, a group of rebels opened fire on civilians in Ghai Pass area of Thanamandi near Rajouri killing eight Muslims, among them three women. Two more Muslims were killed in Kalali. Police said the militants first slit the throats of their victims and then shot them.
In another incident, at least 15 schoolchildren were injured, two of them seriously, in a grenade explosion in southern Kashmir.
Police said Islamic militants hurled a grenade at a passing army vehicle, but it missed the intended target and exploded in front of a group of students from a nearby high school.
Indian security sources said exchanges of fire between the rival armies of India and Pakistan had occurred on the international border during the night, while brief artillery duels were fought along the Line of Control (LoC), but that the exchanges had been "normal firing".
Tensions, which have been simmering for the past eight months, had been expected to rise following a charge by a Pakistani military spokesman that India had launched an aerial bombardment of the Gultari post army post along the LoC on Thursday night.
The spokesman, Major General Rashid Qureshi, also alleged that the Indian Air Force carried out up to five raids after Indian troops launched the attack, adding that Indian troops were killed when Pakistani soldiers responded.
Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes described the claims as an "outright lie" while the defence ministry said they were "false and baseless."
India and Pakistan between them have had a million war-ready soldiers ranged on their common frontiers since an attack in December on the Indian parliament by gunmen New Delhi claims were sponsored by Islamabad, which Pakistan denies.
AFP