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In Indian Kashmir, an Islamic terrorist leader, and one of his followers was killed by a black bear. Two other terrorists were wounded, but were able to flee to a nearby village. Although the terrorists were armed with assault rifles, the bear attacked quickly, and at night, and the men were unable to use their weapons in the restricted confines of the cave. Apparently the bear was going to use the cave to hibernate in, and was upset to find that the terrorists had moved in. The four terrorists thought the cave was abandoned, and a good place to hide...

A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say. Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar. The militants had assault rifles but were taken by surprise - police found the remains of pudding they had made to eat when the bear attacked.The militants had made their hideout in a cave which was actually the bear's den, said police officer Farooq Ahmed.The dead have been identified as Mohammad Amin alias Qaiser, and Bashir Ahmed alias Saifullah. News of the attack emerged when their...

Two terrorists were mauled to death and another seriously wounded after a bear attacked their hideout in a forest area in south Kashmir [ Images ], a senior police officer said. He said the bear as per the intercepts of militants attacked a hideout of the Hizbul Mujaheedin outfit in the forest area near Damhal Hanjipora in south Kashmir Shopian district.

SNIPPET: "Search at Grundy County plant called part of ongoing probe" SNIPPET: "But a source said the owner of the plant, which processes lamb and goat, was taken into custody at his home in Chicago. Documents and records were taken from the plant and from a Chicago travel agency on West Devon Avenue, also owned by the same person, the source said."

India raised the pitch of an increasingly testy row with China over disputed border areas Wednesday, warning Beijing about its involvement in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. "The Chinese side is fully aware of India's position and our concerns about Chinese activities," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said in response to a Chinese statement that it would remain engaged in Pakistan. "We hope that the Chinese side will take a long-term view of the India-China relations and cease such activities in areas illegally occupied by Pakistan," Prakash said. The remarks came a day after India and China traded diplomatic jabs over a...

The insurgents went to the house looking for Ms Kauser but her father, Noor Hussain, resisted their demands, Rajouri district senior police superintendent Shafqat Watali told the BBC. I had never touched a rifle before this, let alone fired one - but I had seen heroes firing in films Rukhsana Kauser Three gunmen then entered the house and attacked Ms Kauser's parents, while four other militants remained outside. "My parents told me to hide under the bed and then opened the door," Ms Kauser told the BBC. "Without saying anything they [the militants] started beating my parents and my uncle....

Two Chinese helicopters have reportedly violated the Indian airspace in recent months in Leh area of north Jammu and Kashmir during which they air-dropped some canned food in barren land at Chumar, northeast of this Himalayan town, along the border. ( Watch Video ) The MI series helicopters were reported to the nearby defence post by residents of this high altitude area living along the Pangong lake, located in the lap of majestic hills, prompting the Army Aviation Corps to rush its Cheetah and Chetak helicopters. However, they could only find tell-tale signs left by Chinese helicopters which hovered in...

Arif Jamal is arguably the leading Pakistani expert on the jihad in Kashmir. He is the author of Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir [1], a groundbreaking, gripping account of the interminable, key conflict between India and Pakistan, based on interviews with hundreds of militants over the years. The book is essential reading for understanding, among other issues, how the United States-friendly Pakistani army trained nearly half a million jihadis; how United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) money ended up financing the jihad in Kashmir; and how closely interconnected is the situation in Kashmir with the endless...

Situated on the banks of the icy Lidder river, a 900-year old Shiva temple is the only Hindu shrine in Kashmir Valley which has Muslim priests. After the migration of Kashmiri Pandits from a nearby village, two Muslim priests - Mohmmad Abdullah and Ghulam Hassan kept the doors of the Mamalaka temple open and bells continued to toll. "We not only took care of temple but also held 'aartis' everyday," Ghulam Hasan told a correspondent. Besides ensuring the safety of the 3-feet-long black stone "shivaling", Abdullah and Hassan have ensured no devotee goes without prasad even for a single day....

SNIPPET: "SRINAGAR: In a joint operation, the Jammu and Kashmir police, CRPF and the army on Wednesday arrested a top Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist from Sopore distrcit in North Kashmir. The security personnel, on a tip-off, arrested Abid alias Assadullah, who has been active in this region for the last two years and is involved in various attacks on security forces, at Wetlab, 65km from here on Sopore-Bandipora Road, official sources said. Abid is a resident of Peshawar in Pakistan, they said. Police recovered one Chinese pistol, one magazine and four rounds of ammunition Abid, who was the Battalion Commander of the...

If you want to sell arsenic, the kindest way to do so is to disguise it as medicine heavily coated with sugar. There is nothing particularly new about the proposal of an interim balm for the wounds of Kashmir, demilitarization on both sides of the Line of Control. What is novel is the heavy Washington endorsement of this Pakistan-promoted option. This is not all. Unusually for a senior diplomat of a super power that affects neutrality, US under secretary of state for political affairs, William Burns, chose Delhi as the venue for a message designed to disturb the equanimity of...

The US said on Thursday that it wants the Kashmir issue resolved in line with the aspirations of the people of Kashmir – a statement that reflects Pakistan’s stance on the long-standing dispute. Addressing a press conference after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns – on a three-day visit to India – stunned reporters by saying that the Kashmir issue had to be settled in line with the aspirations of Kashmiris. “It remains our view that a resolution of that issue has to take into account wishes of the Kashmiri people,”...

The main city in Indian Administered Kashmir was shut down on Monday by a general strike held in protest over the alleged rape and murder of two young Muslim women by security forces. Police said they are investigating the ‘mysterious deaths’ of the women, aged 17 and 22, whose bodies were found dumped in a shallow stream on Saturday. Their families said the corpses bore marks of violence and that their clothes were torn. They have accused security forces of abducting, raping and subsequently killing them. A one-day strike to mourn and protest the deaths, with shops, schools, banks and...

The Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan has been registered in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest militarized territorial dispute in the world. The Guinness Book of World Records used the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) world fact book to name the Kashmir issue, the longest dispute between two countries, The Daily Times reports. In the latest edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, page no. 137 of the ‘wars’ section reads states : “According to the CIA fact book, the dispute between China, India and Pakistan for Kashmir region is the largest and most militarised dispute.”...

After claiming that troops had been moved away from the border with India to fight the Taliban, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has now said that India is not a threat to Pakistan. “I have never considered India a threat,” Mr Zardari said in an interview to a popular US news channel. But the Pakistan president’s comments at this stage are clearly aimed at reducing US pressure and ensuring that American aid to Pakistan comes through as early as possible. “I have always considered India a neighbour, which we want to improve our relationship with. We have had some cold...

Saqib Moinullah 25, a resident of NWFP in Pakistan, said at a press conference he had crossed into India through the Gurez sector of the Line of Control along with 120 other people, including 31 guerrillas of the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) outfit. The Indian Army on Saturday accused its Pakistani counterparts of pushing guerrillas into the Kashmir Valley. To back their claim, Indian Army officials produced a Pakistani national who had infiltrated into the border state a fortnight back. Saqib Moinullah 25, a resident of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan, said at a press conference here on Saturday...

There are no Taliban in the Kashmir Valley, Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor claimed on Tuesday. "We have had no traces of Taliban. But I would like to say, if any element... whether it is LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba), JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammad), HuJI (Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami)... whenever an element tries to disrupt peace in a region he will be dealt with in the same fashion. He will be neutralised," said General Deepak Kapoor. The Army chief also assured that the borders will be guarded during polls. "We had already foreseen all this happening. We are quite well prepared for it. We did expect, because...

Is stone-pelting as a form of resistance Islamic? This is a question whose answer deeply preoccupies Kashmir these days. On one side of the debate are the separatists leaders and on the other the city police chief who terms this method of protest un-Islamic. The debate has added up so many dimensions that it has even polarized the secessionists. Heaving a big stone into the already choppy waters is the president of Jamiat-i-Ahlihadith Moulana Showkat Ahmad Shah who created a stir by coming out with a fatwa that pelting stones on the armed security personnel was not sanctioned by Islam....

Several banned militant groups on Wednesday met in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir capital, Muzaffarabad, and pledged to continue the jihad to “liberate” Kashmir from India. The meeting was organised by a previously unknown group, Tehreek-e-Azadi Jammu and Kashmir, on the eve of “Kashmir Solidarity Day” observed on Thursday. Groups affiliated to the United Jihad Council, the umbrella organisation of more than a dozen jihadi outfits, were in attendance including the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The meeting took place at Chattar, a neighbourhood that houses government offices, top government functionaries and political VIPs. The local administration did not prevent the...

New Delhi has warned Barack Obama that he is "barking up the wrong tree" if he tries to broker a deal between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir. MK Narayanan, India's national security adviser, said the new US president was in danger of dredging up outdated Clinton-era strategies in an effort to improve ties between the nuclear armed neighbours. "I do think that we could make President Obama understand, if he does nurse any such view, that he is barking up the wrong tree. I think Kashmir today has become one of the quieter and safer places...

There are a few takers for the clarification issued by the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday regarding National Security Advisor M K Narayanan's interview to the television channel CNN-IBN. The PMO said Narayanan's quotes regarding US President Barack Obama and former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf were taken out of context. But, the statements are on tape and are obviously undeniable. The 'context' is right there in the question and in his answer. Therefore, Narayanan's backtracking seems to be the result of 'pressure' from the ministry of external affairs. Narayanan statement about Obama had astonished the diplomatic community. The NSA had...

India has warned US President Barack Obama that he risks “barking up the wrong tree” if he seeks to broker a settlement between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir. MK Narayanan, India’s national security advisor, said that the new US administration was in danger of dredging up out of date Clinton administration-era strategies in a bid to bring about improved ties between the two nuclear armed neighbours. “I do think that we could make President Obama understand, if he does nurse any such view, that he is barking up the wrong tree. I think Kashmir today has...

NEW DELHI: Coming out strongly against any attempt to link Kashmir issue with turmoil in Pakistan's tribal areas, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has said that US President Barack Obama would be "barking up the wrong tree" if he holds such views. Narayanan said India had made it known to the Obama team at the outset that it would not like Indo-Pak relations to be on the agenda of Richard Holbrooke, special envoy of the US for Pakistan and Afghanistan. "References made by President Obama did seem to suggest that there is some kind of a link between the...

One of the two men arrested for illegally buying mobile phone cards used by gunmen in the Mumbai attacks is a counter-insurgency police officer who may have been on an undercover mission, security officials said Saturday. The officials in Indian Kashmir demanded that police in Calcutta, where the suspect is being held, arrange for his quick release.

Tonight (Friday a.m. US time) Pakistan gave its official answer to India on the request to turn over to India ASAP Islamic terrorists based on Pakistan soil and operating out in the open. Our friend and good ally India has ramped up the pressure and now banned the entry of Pakistani nationals into it's country by land, sea or air.The massive terrorist attack in Mumbai had a strong element of not only India being targeted, but the United States as well. Our fellow Americans were sought out, and some were killed.All intelligence points to Pakistan as the base for these...

India's has accused "elements inside Pakistan" of orchestrating the late November terrorist attacks on high-profile targets in Mumbai. While such accusations often follow attacks inside India, the scale of these attacks put them in a new category. Daniel Markey, a CFR Senior Fellow, was until last year a South Asia expert on the State Department's Policy Planning Staff. He says India's accusations may be based on hard evidence, but cautions that Pakistan's government may be unable to control the "Frankenstein's monster" it created when it helped train terrorists to infiltrate and fight against Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region....

Azam Amir, the terrorist who was held by the Mumbai Police, has made some striking revelations regarding the Mumbai terror attacks. Azam has disclosed that the Pakistan Navy had trained the terrorists in boating and swimming to carry out the attacks in Mumbai. Azam was arrested on Wednesday from Girgaum Chowpatty in an encounter with the police. Ismail Khan, an accomplice of Amir, reportedly died in the gunbattle.

oint Crime Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said the attackers were from "a hardcore group" within Lashkar-e-Taiba. The group is understood to be a Pakistan-based movement that has fought Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region. They were blamed for an attack on India's parliament building in 2001.3 Indian officials have also claimed the sole survivor of the militants - Mohammad Ajmal Qasam - is from Pakistan. They have threatened to suspend the peace process with Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai massacre that left 174 people dead, the Press Trust of India reported. But Pakistan, which has fought two...

If, as now seems likely, last week's terrible events in Mumbai were the work of Islamic terrorists, that's more bad news for India's minority Muslim population. Never mind that the perpetrators were probably funded from outside India, in connection with the ongoing conflict over Kashmir. The attacks will feed a powerful stereotype of the violent and untrustworthy Muslim, bent on religious conquest, who can never be a good democratic citizen. Such stereotypes already shadow the lives of Indian Muslims, who make up 13.5% of the population.

This was not another terrorist incident, not another bomb exploded in a train or an explosive laden cycle or taxi near residential area. Nor was it a reaction to the explosion on the Samjhauta Express or the Malegaon blasts or the carnage at Delhi and Bangalore. The scale of the attack was different and so was the audacity and ferocity of the strike on what are primary landmarks in Mumbai. The attack came out of nowhere from the sea and it came with the swiftness of a commondo raid. This was a pre-planned external operation in co-operation with local networks....

Terror attacks in India: a timeline (Until the November 26, 2008 attacks that illed at least 125) History of unrest By Agency Wires @ Wednesday, November 26, 2008 8:40 PM Terror attacks in India are, sadly not a new occurence. Here is a timeline of terror starting some 15 years ago. · March 12, 1993: A series of thirteen explosions in Mumbai, then called Bombay, resulted in 257 deaths and over 700 injuries. The blasts were orchestrated by the organized crime syndicate called the D·Company, headed by Dawood Ibrahim. · Feb. 14, 1998: Coimbatore bombings: 46 deaths, 200 wounded as...

America's Kashmir Problem 9:35AM Islamic terrorism that faces Obama and Americans world wide starts in Kashmir As of this morning, November 27, 2008, more than 110 people have been killed in attacks in Mumbai, with the terrorists specifically targeting British and American citizens. What is their grievance? Kashmir. Yet, most American’s have no idea what Kashmir is. But they should, since it is one of the basic reasons why we are stuck in Afghanistan (to paraphrase John Kerry), and why Islamic terrorism came to America’s shores. Kashmir is the reason why Pakistan does not cooperate adequately with the US in...

Barack Obama says resolving the Indian-Pakistani dispute over Kashmir will be a goal of his presidency, ending eight years of silence on the issue. NEW DELHI; and ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - As part of his push to find new solutions to the war in Afghanistan, President-elect Barack Obama is considering a new diplomatic push on Kashmir, reversing eight years of American silence on the issue. Mr. Obama has argued that Pakistan will not fully commit to fighting the insurgency it shares with Afghanistan until it sheds historic insecurities toward India. (SNIP) It is a strategy that worries Indians, who suggest the...

WASHINGTON: Washington's response to Pakistan's complaint about the visit to Siachen Glacier in India by the US Army Chief General George Casey? Cold. Hours after Islamabad loudly remonstrated about General Casey's reported programme to the highest battlefield in the world, which Pakistan considers a disputed territory, a senior US official in Washington confirmed the outing, while pointedly ignoring the Pakistani protest. "As you all know, Gen Casey is in India and he was up in Siachen today," Evan Feigenbaum, deputy assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs, told an Indian media round table on Friday on US-India relations. "Exciting...

Text of report by private Indian television channel Zee News website on 1 October Jammu [non-valley region adjoining Indian-administered Kashmir], [Wednesday] 1 October: In yet another ceasefire violation, Pakistani troops Wednesday fired from across the border to push in armed militants in Jammu and Kashmir, the BSF [Border Security Force] said. "Pakistani Rangers opened fire on Tent Post along the International Border in Kanachak sub-sector of Jammu frontier in the wee hours today," a BSF spokesman said.

JAMMU, Sept 11: Militants chopped off nose of a civilian at Kaka Hill in Bhata, Dessa area of Doda district last night. Reports said the victim Manzoor Ahmed son of Sikandar Parray R/o Bhata, Dessa, had gone to the house of his brother-in-law Mohd Sultan at Kaka Hill where two militants kidnapped him last night. The militants took Manzoor Ahmed to a nearby forest where they fired some shots in air and later chopped off the nose of Manzoor with a sharp-edged weapon. The ultras escaped after the incident. A search party of police found the victim lying in an...

Eleven persons including three Army jawans, one of them a JCO, five civilians and three militants were killed while six others including three Army personnel, two civilians and a woman were injured as three fidayeens, who had infiltrated in wee hours of yesterday morning from Kanachak sector, managed to hijack a load carrier auto carrying Gujjars along with their milk containers at Gadla, Kanachak this morning and travelled more than 15 kms before taking shelter in a house at Chinore near Bantalab on on old Jammu-Akhnoor road taking nine persons including four children and three women hostage. The operation, which...

The violence followed a simmering row over the transfer of land to a Hindu organisation in the country's sole Muslim-majority province. Police and military personnel enforced a curfew to prevent large-scale rioting, but opened fire in the face of large crowds of stone-throwing youths, officials in the northern state's summer capital Srinagar said. The casualties came the day after a leading separatist Kashmiri politician and four other protesters were killed by army personnel for trying to cross the disputed frontier into Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The unrest, which has shattered several years of relative calm across the fractured province, was triggered by...

SRINAGAR, India-Controlled Kashmir (CNN) -- At least six people were killed and 55 hurt Tuesday in clashes between Indian police and villagers protesting in three communities in India-controlled Kashmir, police said.

Some heightening of tension as agitators try and keep alive the closed incident of land to be given to a Hindu shrine to erect facilities for pilgrims, not to expand the shrine. In Kashmir, the Government of India follows a discriminatory policy that no outsider can buy land - this land was not be bought, just given for use, it would remain government land. This is a consequence of the 1947 articles of accession under which GOI promised this clause to then princely state ruler. So when separatist Muslims began an agitation saying the government was not to let the...

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) — A Kashmiri Islamic women's group Thursday raided restaurants to prevent young Muslim couples from meeting on Valentine's Day, an event it denounced by as "anti-Islamic." "We have formed a number of squads to educate young couples that Valentine's Day is a Western conspiracy to involve Muslims in vulgar activities," said Nahida, a member of Dukhtaran-e-Millat, or Daughters of Faith, as she took part in a swoop on a restaurant in Srinagar. The women's group, all covered from head-to-toe, did not encounter any resistance as couples patiently listened to them and left restaurants. Nahida, who did not...

After her death, Ms Bhutto has emerged as an icon of secularism and modernity in the Islamic world, a courageous political leader and a champion democrat, a champion of women’s rights, and a fighter against the Jihadists. Her death has been compared to Gandhi’s and her political struggle to Aung San Suu Kyi’s. She was going to replace the rogue dictatorship of President Musharraf to institute democracy and secularism in Pakistan. In a thoughtful analysis, however, it turns out that the majority of these epithets bestowed on her career and legacy are not accurate. Her most devastating action, not only...

NAWSHERA, India: Fighting militancy in Jammu and Kashmir is no longer limited to just men. Women and girls are now picking up the gun to protect themselves and their homes. They play hockey in Chake de India but in real life, young girls in remote border villages in Jammu and Kashmir are doing their bit for their country. 18-year-old Sona helps her mother with the household chores but soon she will also be protecting her neighbours from militants. ''I and my mother both have undergone this training. Now even if militants come when my father is not at home, we...

Srinagar, Aug 11: A militant commander of Pakistan based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, suspected of masterminding an attack on a leading Indian Hindu religious site a couple of years back, was killed in a gunfight with Indian police in Jammu region in the restive state of Jammu and Kashmir. Four persons including a close associate of slain militant commander were arrested after the gunfight. Giving details of the encounter, a senior police officer of Jammu region said that Jammu and Kashmir police and Indian capital Delhi police received specific information that a top militant of Jaish-e-Mohammad was hiding in the Janipur...

Islamist terrorists have long been at war with the United States and frequently have proclaimed their determination to win the war. In fact, they see their enemies' unwillingness to acknowledge this war as an act of cowardice. If their enemies refuse to wear the mantle of warrior, terrorists assume that they are weak, lacking in honor, and spiritually infe­rior—and the notion that their enemy is vulnerable emboldens them. Failing to acknowledge that we are at war only encourages the enemy to be more warlike.Conclusive proof that terrorists are at war with us requires little more than reading their own words....

NORTH America's political columnist, Christopher Hitchens is telling the world+dog that the Everywhere Girl has been replaced by "Islamic Rage Boy". Islamic Rage Boy is a stock photo of a Kashmiri-based rent-a-protester who seems to be protesting at everything which moves. According to Hitchen's Slate column, IRB has been seen protesting Danish cartoons, magazine photos of a Muslim Mosque, a visit to India by President Bush, comments by the Pope, execution of a Muslim terrorist by India and Israeli military action. In other words when big media needs a picture of a stereotyped mad mullah to satisfy the prejudices about...

PAKISTANI intelligence officers have busted a gang of Islamic militants supplying suicide bombers and explosive devices to Taliban fighters in neighbouring Afghanistan, police said. The eight-member gang led by former fighters of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group was based in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, a senior police official said. They used to collect materials and volunteers from the central province of Punjab, the official said, requesting anonymity. The suspects were arrested in Punjab over the past few days. "During the interrogation they confessed to having carried out a series of suicide bombings and bomb blasts against foreign...

Once again, suspected Al Qaeda commanders claimed its presence in India, declaring jihad (Holy War) against the country and Kashmir as the gateway of Jihad against India’ for the first time ever. In a video message, [received by a Jammu and Kashmir based local news agency Current News Service (CNS) on June 08], a masked man identified himself as Abu Abrahim Al Asim voiced the statement (in Urdu) on behalf of Abu Abdul Rehman Al Ansari, the suspected chief of the Al-Qaeda for India (Al-Qaeda-fill-Hind-AQH). Similar CDs were reportedly distributed byan unidentified man during Friday prayers at a Mosque at...

NEW DELHI: A top-level Israeli military delegation will be in India next week on a hush-hush visit to discuss counter-terrorism and anti-infiltration strategies in Jammu and Kashmir. Sources said the delegation, to be led by Israeli deputy chief of general staff, Major General Moshe Kaplinsky, will be visiting some places in J&K, including the 16 Corps headquarters in Nagrota, which is responsible for guarding the line of control south of the Pir Panjal range. The Israeli visit comes at a time when the LoC has suddenly become hot with terrorists making concerted efforts to sneak into India from across the...

Once `capital of militancy,' peace reigns here now Shujaat Bukhari Pandits return to a warm welcome in Bomai Pandits say they don't need security cover there They are ready to settle down if jobs are provided BONHOMIE: An elderly Kashmiri Muslim greeting three Pandits on their return to Bomai village, 70 km from Srinagar, on Wednesday. BOMAI (SOPORE): On the first visit to their village in 18 years, 11 Pandit families received a very warm welcome from their Muslim neighbours. The Pandits said they were ready to settle down here if the Government came out with an employment package for...