இந்து துறவிகள் சாதுக்கள் யாத்ரீகர்கள் மீது முஸ்லீம் பயங்கரவாதிகள் குண்டுவீச்சு

மீண்டும் இந்து யாத்ரீகர்கள், சாதுக்கள் துறவிகள் மீது முஸ்லீம் பயங்கரவாதிகள் குண்டு வீச்சு நடத்தினார்கள்.

காஷ்மீர் யாத்திரைக்கு செல்லும் இந்து யாத்ரீகர்கள் மீது குண்டு வீச்சு நடந்ததை பாராட்டி இதுவரை மன்மோகன் சிங் அறிக்கை வெளியிடவில்லை.

Jul 21, 6:47 AM EDT
Islamic Rebels Attack Hindus in Kashmir
By AIJAZ HUSSAIN
Associated Press Writer
SRINAGAR, India (AP) -- Suspected Islamic rebels attacked Hindu pilgrims with hand grenades for the second time in a week in India's portion of Kashmir, wounding 11 people, police said Saturday.

The attack took place in Pahalgam, a town on the pilgrimage route to the Amarnath shrine, said Hemant Lohia, a senior police officer.

The militants threw a grenade into a kitchen set up to feed the pilgrims, wounding 11 - three of them critically - said Lohia, adding that several of them were sadhus, or Hindu ascetics.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Pahalgam, some 60 miles south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state.

On Tuesday one person was killed and 16 injured in a similar attack on a market near a camp housing pilgrims.

Islamic separatists have targeted the pilgrimage in the past, charging that Hindu-majority India uses the annual religious event as a political statement to bolster its claim over the Himalayan region that is divided between Pakistan and India but claimed by both in its entirety.

Officials say at least 400,000 devotees are expected to visit the Amarnath shrine, a cave that long housed a large icicle revered as an incarnation of the Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction and regeneration.

The stalagmite-like icicle fluctuated in size over the years, and although it completely melted away for the first time earlier this year, pilgrims continue to flock to the cave, which is considered sacred.

Thousands of soldiers have been deployed along the pilgrims' route during the two months the cave is open.

About a dozen militant groups have been fighting since 1989 for independence for Muslim majority Kashmir or a merger with neighboring Pakistan. At least 68,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

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