10 killed in fresh Kashmir violence

Panic gripped the busy Regal Chowk area of the summer capital Srinagar on Monday when suspected rebels opened fire at a security force patrol, killing a policeman and injuring a shopkeeper, police and witnesses said.

The shooting sparked panic in the bustling shopping area, with people seen running for cover fearing retaliation from the police,

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In the village of Hapatnar in the northern Kupwara district Muslim rebels Monday ambushed an army patrol killing two soldiers, a police spokesman said.

Army reinforcements rushed to the village and launched a search operation.

Meanwhile, three militants were killed during a night-long clash with border guards in the central Kashmir district of Budgam, said Tirtha Acharya, spokesman for India's Border Security Force (BSF) in Srinagar, the Kashmiri summer capital.

He said all three were top ranking members of the hardline Jaish-e-Mohammad, including two Pakistani nationals, with one of them allegedly working with the Pakistani army.

"Three BSF men were injured during the fighting," he added.

Three AK rifles, a radio set and a photograph of Osama bin Laden -- the main accused in the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States -- were recovered from the bodies of the slain rebels.

Photographs of the world's most wanted terrorist have been recovered in the past from rebels but officials have yet to establish any link between his al-Qaeda terrorist network and Muslim rebels fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Indian troops shot dead two more rebels in the neighbouring district of Doda late Sunday during a cordon and search operation, police said.

In south Kashmir district of Anantnag a Muslim forest guard died during a cross-fire between rebels and security force personnel, while a 21-year-old Muslim woman was shot dead by suspected rebels, police said.

More than 38,000 people have died in Indian Kashmir since the eruption of an anti-Indian rebellion in the scenic Himalayan region in 1989. Separatists put the toll twice as high.