Rebels kill 1 police officer in Indian Kashmir, AS

Sun, Nov 1 09:56 AM

SRINAGAR, India (AP) Suspected Islamist rebels shot two police officers at point-blank range Sunday in the Indian portion of Kashmir, killing one instantly, police said. The officers were guarding a busy shopping area in Qamarwari district in Srinagar, the region's main city, said Farooq Ahmed, inspector-general of police.

The other officer was critically wounded and hospitalized, Ahmed told The Associated Press. The assailants fled after the attack, he said.

No militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the killing. Nearly a dozen insurgent groups have been fighting for the majority-Muslim Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with neighboring Pakistan since 1989.

They attack government forces as part of their campaign against Indian rule. More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the uprising and subsequent Indian crackdown.

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