Indo-Pak troops trade fire in Kashmir: 3 die

A police spokesman said Pakistani shells damaged 15 shops, a home and a government building in the Gurez sector of Baramulla district, 130 km northwest of Indian Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar.

He said the three dead included a Muslim who drove a state-owned bus who was sleeping inside the vehicle.

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Gurez residents ran for cover as Pakistani and Indian troops fired artillery rounds and shells at each other throughout the night, witnesses said.

The three injured were taken to a nearby army hospital where one was in serious condition, doctors said.

Indian and Pakistani troops also exchanged heavy fire in the Karna sector of neighbouring Kupwara district but there were no casualties, police said.

The two countries' militaries regularly trade fire across their de facto border in Kashmir, with each side accusing the other of initiating the skirmishes.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both. The nuclear powers have fought two of their three wars over the scenic Himalayan region.

The Indian side of Kashmir is in the throes of a 14-year Islamic insurgency that has claimed more than 38,000 lives by official count, or between 80,000 and 100,000 lives according to Pakistan and separatists.

Meanwhile, nine people died Sunday in separatist violence in Indian Kashmir including four civilians killed by a bomb outside a liquor shop, police said.

Suspected Islamic militants placed the explosives inside a video cassette recorder left in front of the alcohol store in the town of Rajouri, 150 km northwest of Indian Kashmir's winter capital Jammu, police said.

"A group of people went to see the VCR and it blew apart, killing two people on the spot," a police official said.

Doctors at the Rajouri hospital said four people were killed in the blast and 28 injured, including four in serious condition who airlifted for treatment in Jammu.