Ten people were killed and 20 injured when suspected Islamic militants threw grenades and exchanged gunfire with police at a 150-year-old Hindu temple in Indian-controlled Kashmir yesterday, police said. A Pakistan-based Islamic group later claimed responsibility.
Two attackers got out of a white van outside the temple in a crowded shopping district in Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, and set off several grenades, a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
One attacker made his way inside the temple with a gun and engaged in a shootout with security forces. He was later found dead, police said.
Another suspected militant was killed before he could enter the shrine, the officer said. Police cordoned off the area and were searching for a third attacker who drove the van.
A total of four policemen, four civilians and two attackers were killed. Another 20 people, mostly civilians, were wounded in the attack. Doctors at Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu said that five of the injured were in critical condition.
The Islamic Front, a Kashmiri rebel group whose leadership is based in Pakistan, later claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to the AP office in Jammu.
"We have done this because of violence against Muslims in India," said a caller who identified himself as an aide of Bilal Beg, the group's leader. "This is just the beginning."
The Islamic Front is one of more than a dozen Islamic militant groups fighting for Kashmir's independence from mainly Hindu India since 1989.
India accuses the Pakistani government of arming and training Pakistan-based militants who carry out attacks in Kashmir to win its independence or merger with Pakistan. The Pakistan government supports the cause but denies helping the militants.
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