Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) — Indian special forces stormed a house in Jammu and Kashmir state and freed seven people being held hostage by militants. The gunmen killed three captives and a soldier during the battle with troops.

“The special forces of the army killed all three militants,” army spokesman S.D. Goswami said by telephone from Chinore in Jammu region. “The militants are yet to be identified and we suspect they are from Lashkar-e-Taiba” based in Pakistan, he said.

The battle began at 1:30 a.m., Goswami said. The militants took the hostages when they occupied a house in the town posing as policemen. Three civilians and a soldier were killed in shooting yesterday.

More than a dozen Islamic separatist groups have been fighting since 1989 for independence for Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state. The conflict has killed about 50,000 people. Pakistan rejects Indian charges that it provides support for separatists in the territory.

India lodged a protest with Pakistan for helping militants infiltrate the border “under the cover of cross-border firing,” J.B. Sangwan, a deputy inspector-general of the Border Security Force, said by telephone from Jammu yesterday. The protest was sent after a meeting with Pakistani Rangers border guards, he said.

Shooting, Infiltration

“The border firing and attempts of infiltration are a matter of concern,” Defense Minister A.K. Antony told reporters in New Delhi two days ago. “In the last two months, the firing along the border has increased 20 times or more compared to the same period last year.”

The Himalayan territory of Kashmir is central to efforts by India and Pakistan to improve relations. The nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors have fought two of their three wars since 1947 over the region that is divided between them and claimed in full by both.

India says the success of peace talks that started in 2003 depend on Pakistan ending support for cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and taking steps to combat militants.

Tensions between Muslims and Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir have risen since the provincial government’s decision in June to transfer 99 acres (40 hectares) of land to caretakers of a Hindu shrine.

The provincial government’s decision to cancel the transfer on July 1 following a Muslim backlash resulted in Hindus staging their own demonstrations. They blocked the movement of goods from mainly Muslim Srinagar to the Hindu-majority of Jammu.

Two Killed

Two people were killed yesterday when security forces fired on protesters demanding an end to Indian occupation in Kashmir, Senior Superintendent of Police Showkat Mallik said by telephone from Srinagar, the summer capital. At least 34 people have died in street protests since June over the land transfer dispute.

Curfews imposed in most parts of the state to contain violence and curb protests over the past four days will be eased today, Mallik said.

“It will be at different times for various districts,” he said. “In most places it will be relaxed for about two hours.”

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was concerned by the violent nature of the protests in Kashmir and the “restrictions to the right to freedom of assembly and expression,” according to a statement.

Use of force should be proportionate to the threat posed and firearms only used in dispersing a violent assembly to protect people against death or injury, the OHCHR said on its Web site. “The acting high commissioner calls for a thorough and independent investigation into all killings that have occurred so far.”

 E-mail this article to a friend

Tags: Army, Hostages, Jammu, Kashmir, Militants