Top Kashmir rebel leaders killed by Indian forces

Indian troops have shot dead four guerilla leaders in disputed Kashmir, authorities said yesterday in what they called major successes for security forces battling a 14-year revolt against the government's rule.

The killings came less than two weeks after nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, who have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan region, agreed to begin talks to resolve all outstanding disputes, including the row over Kashmir.

An army spokesman said the operations commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen guerilla group, Gazi Naseeb-u-Din, also known as Gulam Rasool Dar, was killed in a gun battle on the outskirts of Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir.

The Hizbul Mujahideen, which is fighting for Muslim-majority Kashmir's merger with Muslim Pakistan, is one of the biggest guerilla groups in the troubled region.

Naseeb-u-Din was the number two in the group headed by Syed Salahuddin, who is based in Pakistani Kashmir. He had led the Hizbul in failed peace talks with the government in July 2000.

Also killed in the shootout was Fayaz Ahmad Dar, or Abid, the group's chief financial and publicity official, said army spokesman, Colonel Dharam Adhikari.

"The army raided a house after a tip-off," Adhikari told Reuters. "The hiding militants opened fire and in the ensuing encounter Gulam Rasool Dar and Fayaz Ahmad Dar were killed."

Elsewhere, Asif Numan, the deputy chief of another rebel group, Al-badr, was killed in a clash with security forces, police said.

The Pakistan-based Al-badr group is also fighting for Kashmir's merger with Pakistan and is among the more active groups in the region.

The killing of the two Hizbul leaders was a "major success", the police said in a statement. Security forces had also killed a Hizbul district commander in a separate shootout, police said.