(14 Jul 1999) Hindi/English/Nat
Indian says commandos have stormed a building at an Indian military camp in Kashmir where Islamic militants were holding twelve hostages and have freed all the hostages alive.
The militants attacked the camp, for paramilitary forces, on Tuesday, killing three soldiers and a civilian -- the first attack on a base of India's Border Security Force in ten years of militancy in the region.
The incident came as forces backed by Pakistan appeared to be continuing to withdraw from Indian side of the Line of Control.
India says it will only consider resuming a peace dialogue with Pakistan after the last intruder has left Indian territory.
The militant attack on one of its key bases in Kashmir had shocked India, but the nation is now treating the freeing of the hostages as a national victory.
A small number of militants killed four people -- three paramilitaries and a civilian -- before taking four families captive in a house inside the Border Security Force base at Bandipura north of Srinagar.
Indian commandos staged an early morning assault on the building on Wednesday and say they rescued the hostages alive.
Officials say all the militants were killed during the operation.
The bodies of the Indian security forces and the one civilian were given a guard of honour in the city of Srinagar in Kashmir before being flown to the capital, Delhi.
The coffins of the men, regarded now as national heroes, were saluted by key politicians from Jammu and Kashmir and political representatives from other key parts of India.
India says the attack on the base by militants is a change in tactics, and they say security measures have been increased to take account of this.
Local leaders repeated accusations that Pakistan is pursuing a proxy war in the Kashmir valley.
SOUNDBITE: (Hindi)
"This is another kind of war and they have been trying to disrupt peace here. They have had to pay a heavy price for our success in Kashmir in the last two years. That is why they started this in Kargil."
SUPERCAPTION: Girish Chandra Saxena, Governor of Jammu and Kashmir
Muslim militants have been waging a bloody war against Indian rule in Kashmir - the only Muslim-majority state in Hindu-dominated India - for over a decade for complete independence or merger with Islamic Pakistan.
Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India and has been the cause of two wars between them since their independence from Britain in 1947 - both claim Kashmir in its entirety.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"They cannot beat us at a full scale war, so they are trying all these things for the last ten years. They've tried these tactics of a proxy war. They will never succeed."
SUPERCAPTION: Farooq Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
Officials in the capital gave more details of the commando raid at the daily briefing for journalists, saying they freed the captives before attacking the militants..
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Later NSG fired a rocket on the portion of the building where the militants were hiding and that portion collapse and caught fire. The area was searched. We found one dead body, one AK-47 rifle, one grenade-launcher and eight grenades."
SUPERCAPTION: Zia Ullah, Border Security Force spokesman
The Foreign Ministry went on to pour scorn on reports of a statement by the Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman, that Pakistan's head of Military Operations had not agreed to a Friday deadline for forces to withdraw from Indian
territory.
In Delhi, supporters of the Hindu right-wing Shiv Sena party staged a protest against Pakistan -- with several activists having their heads shaved.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
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