Two policemen die in Kashmir attack

November 02, 2009 02:14:51 PM

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Suspected Muslim militants shot dead two policemen at point-blank range Sunday in the main city of restive Indian-ruled Kashmir, police said.

The shooting sparked panic in a busy business district of Srinagar, the summer capital of Muslim-majority Indian Kashmir which has been in the grip of an insurgency against New Delhi's rule for two decades.

"Two policemen on patrol duty were shot in their heads by militants. One of them was declared 'brought dead' on arrival at a hospital, and the second one died later," a policeman spokesman told AFP.

The attack comes days after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wound up a two-day trip to Kashmir.

Singh has offered talks to separatist politicians, who rejected them, asking New Delhi for tripartite talks involving Pakistan.

The insurgency, which erupted in 1989, has left more than 47,000 people dead by official count.

Violence has fallen sharply in the scenic Himalayan region since India and Pakistan launched a stop-start peace process in 2004 to resolve their differences over Kashmir and other disputes.