Indian troops kill top militants as Kashmir votes

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-17 20:23

ANANTNAG, India -- Indian troops killed two top Muslim rebels in Kashmir on Wednesday and clashed with protestors as the disputed region's Indian zone held the latest leg of multi-stage elections.

Kashmiri protestors shouting pro-freedom slogans outside a polling station in Anantnag, some 55 kms south of Srinagar, on December 17, 2008. Indian troops killed two top Muslim rebels in Kashmir on Wednesday and clashed with protestors as the disputed region's Indian zone held the latest leg of multi-stage elections. [Agencies]

Security forces said they had also defused a bomb in the southern Kashmiri town of Anantnag minutes before polling stations opened Wednesday morning, a police official said.

"It was planted by militants on the edge of a road," he said.

In the neighbouring district of Shopian, security forces shot dead two top rebel commanders of the pro-Pakistan militant group, Hizbul Mujahedin.

One of the slain commanders, Rais Ahmed, had escaped from police custody last month while being escorted to a court.

Later in Anantnag, police wielding batons dispersed scores of anti-election protestors. But despite the clashes, voters turned out in large numbers.

"I am voting to elect honest and upright people. We want peace and development," said Nazia Amin, 23, a first-time voter.

Wednesday's voting was the sixth and penultimate stage of the always tense election process in Kashmir.

Separatist politicians and rebels had called for a boycott of the polls, arguing that elections strengthen New Delhi's hold over the disputed region. The first five rounds of voting saw turnout of more than 50 percent.

The polls are staggered to allow time for troops to be moved around and provide adequate security.

"We are not taking chances. Security is very tight for today's polling," said police officer Javed Ahmed.

The final stage of voting is scheduled for December 24.

The nearly two-decade Muslim insurgency in Kashmir has left more than 47,000 people dead according to the official count.