Kashmir: Top Muslim Separatist Killed

A leader of a Muslim separatist group in Kashmir was shot to death along with his bodyguard during a memorial rally Tuesday, as India's prime minister was headed to the Himalayan province at a time of rising tensions with Pakistan.

Abdul Ghani Lone, who was attacked in a hospital by a Hindu nationalist in April, was shot dead on Tuesday at a memorial gathering in a cemetery, commemorating the 12th anniversary of the assassination of a Kashmiri independence leader.

Lone was one of the leaders of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, a group of political and religious parties that advocate Muslim-majority Kashmir's separation from predominantly Hindu India.

He was sitting on a platform in front of a crowd of 5,000 people, when three masked men approached and he was shot, said independent Aaj Tak television, whose reporter was present.

One of the men rolled a grenade into the crowd, but it did not explode, the TV report said.

Lone and two bodyguards were rushed to a hospital. Lone and one of the guards died, said Nisar Ahmad, one of Lone's relatives who had gathered at his home. The other guard was being treated for injuries.

Earlier, a fierce exchange of cross-border gunfire between Indian and Pakistani soldiers killed three civilians. Three villagers were killed and seven wounded as the two armies traded mortar and small-arms fire in Rajouri, a Kashmir district on the international border, said army spokesman Maj. Animesh Trivedi.

Also Tuesday, suspected Islamic guerrillas killed two activists of the National Conference party, which governs India's Jammu-Kashmir state, in Kupwara district, nearly 65 miles north of the state's summer capital, Srinagar, said T. Acharya, a spokesman for paramilitary Border Security Force.

Elsewhere, four soldiers were wounded when suspected guerrillas ambushed their vehicle in Doda district, 125 miles northeast of Jammu, the state's winter capital, police said.

India and Pakistan have sent about 1 million soldiers to their frontier in the latest flare-up over the disputed Himalayan region, which has provoked two of their three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. Both countries claim the region in its entirety.

Pakistan's ambassador to Britain, Abdul Kader Jaffer, said Tuesday that India and Pakistan are "very close" to war.

"They are very close," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "And therefore it is necessary for all our friends to get together, bring sanity where there is total insanity."

The United States, Britain and the European Union have urged both countries to exercise restraint and recommended talks, which Pakistan favors. Washington announced plans Monday to send Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to the region.

India has refused talks until militants based in Pakistan stop crossing the border to stage attacks. India accuses Pakistan of arming, training and financing the Islamic guerrillas fighting since 1989 for Kashmir's independence or merger with Pakistan.

Vajpayee was traveling to Jammu on Tuesday to visit those injured in an attack on an army base last week that killed 34 people — mostly soldiers' wives and children.

New Delhi blamed Islamabad and two Pakistan-based Islamic guerrilla groups for the attack on the outskirts of Jammu. Pakistan condemned the attack and denied any involvement.

Since Friday, heavy firing along the international border has forced more than 20,000 people to flee villages on India's side, army spokesman Trivedi said. Firing spread to new areas Monday night, he said.