Hindus strike in Kashmir to protest attack on pilgrims

JAMMU, India -- Many Hindus observed a general strike in Kashmir on Wednesday to protest a terrorist attack that killed nine pilgrims as they prepared to hike to a Himalayan shrine.

Also Wednesday, eight people died in new violence in two separate incidents.

Most shops and businesses stayed closed in Jammu, the winter capital of India's northern Jammu-Kashmir state. Government offices and schools opened, but attendance was thin.

The strike call by the World Hindu Council and other affiliates of India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party did not evoke much response in Srinagar, the state's summer capital, which is mostly inhabited by Muslims.

A local leader of the state's ruling National Conference party was slain in Srinagar on Wednesday, and police said Islamic separatists were suspected.

About 120 miles northwest of Jammu, guerrillas reportedly fought a gunbattle with Indian security forces in the village of Lohar Ki Gali. Police said five militants and two soldiers died.

India's government said the Muslim separatist group Al-Mansooreen had claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack on Hindu pilgrims. A newsletter from Pakistan-based militants separately said that group staged the May assault on an Indian army camp on the outskirts of Jammu that killed 34 people and heightened tensions between India and Pakistan.

On Wednesday, only 1,679 people left Jammu for the 33-mile hike to the Amarnath shrine, a Himalayan cave that houses an icy stalagmite worshipped as an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva, police said. Between 3,000 and 4,000 worshippers normally make the hike each day of the monthlong pilgrimage.

Dhiraj Kumar, an official of the committee organizing the pilgrimage for nearly 125,000 Hindus, said that the attack Tuesday had frightened off some pilgrims, but that most were determined to complete their journey to the shrine.

The attack Tuesday occurred at a base camp in Nunwan, 40 miles northeast of Jammu. At least 27 pilgrims were also wounded, and police said one attacker was killed by retaliatory fire.

It was the sixth attack on Amarnath pilgrims this year, leading to 24 deaths. The last attack, on July 30, killed three and wounded 22 pilgrims.

India accuses Pakistan of supporting Islamic guerrillas who are fighting for Kashmir's independence or merger with Pakistan. Pakistan denies giving training or weapons to the militants, though it backs their cause.

At least 60,000 people have been killed during the 12-year insurgency. India and Pakistan have twice gone to war over the Himalayan enclave.